Faith and the Electric Dogs

First-time novelist Jennings takes a soaring flight into magic realism in this captivating tale narrated with brio by a Mexican street dog. Edison, a perro corriente (electric dog) relates how he saves 10-year-old Faith from a school bully and how she in turns rescues him after he is hit by a taxi. Recently arrived in Chiapas from San Francisco, Faith is having a hard time learning Spanish and professes to hate all things Mexican. Since her mother refuses to take her back home, Faith decides to get there herself-in a tin rocket shaped like a peacock, which she fuels with pork fat and hot peppers. Anything is possible in a story told by a multilingual dog, so Faith's experiment in rocketry is mostly successful, though a bit off-target. Some amazing discoveries that she and her canine companion make on an uncharted bone-shaped island lead her to see Mexico in a new light and, as in all fairy tales, everything turns out happily ever after. Reveling in the fantastical high jinks, readers will also absorb tidbits of Spanish and Indian language, Mexican culture and geography. Ages 8-12. (Oct.)