Collard (A Platypus Probably
) makes a smooth move to fiction with this affecting first novel about a sensitive yet resilient eighth grader struggling to find his place in his new world. Narrator Guy and his mother have recently moved from California to Montana to live with his maternal grandfather. Still smarting from the loss of his father, who left home a year earlier, the boy also sorely misses the life he has left behind. Streak, Guy's frisky new Border collie, provides some solace, as does Luke, a classmate who befriends him on the first day of school, when Guy has a run-in with thuggish, tobacco-chewing class bully Brad. Despite Luke's friendship, Guy feels that being on Brad's "hit list" has alienated him from the other kids at school; in one poignant passage, he confides, "I don't know what the answer is. I just know I'm tired of feeling like I'm in a foreign country where everyone knows the rules but me." With Luke's help, Guy trains Streak to fetch a Frisbee in order to compete in the annual dog Frisbee-catching contest, of which Brad's German shepherd is the reigning champ. Young dog lovers will especially enjoy Collard's detailed accounts of the two competitions in which these rivals and their pooches participate, the second of which entails a decidedly drastic wager. The author provides further dimension to this strong story through Guy's rapport with his perceptive, understanding grandfather and the revelation of the issues plaguing Luke's family. Ages 8-12. (Oct.)
