A Sheepdog Called Sky

Helen Peters's A Sheepdog Called Sky is a warm farm story for 7 year olds about a girl who finds a starving puppy under a hedge.

What happens

Jasmine lives on a farm, her mum is a vet, and she and her best friend Tom are planning to run an animal rescue centre one day. So when she hears a tiny whimper by the lane, of course she goes looking. Under the hedge is a little black and white collie, so thin he can't even lift his head.

Jasmine doesn't panic. She thinks like a vet. She checks how dehydrated he is, gets water into him and chops up the chicken Dad was saving for his lunch (sorry, Dad). Then she rings Mum and asks her to bring a drip home.

Mum isn't sure the puppy will survive. Jasmine is sure he will, because of the way he looked at her. She names him Sky, and she's his nurse from then on. She keeps a proper chart of his weight and temperature. She builds a sling from a towel so he can practise standing.

Watching Sky get stronger is the heart of the book, and it's really rewarding. There's a lovely bit of dog-training detail too, with down and stay and a hiding game that Sky picks up fast. Your reader will learn a lot about caring for an animal without even noticing.

It isn't all simple, though. Sky is scared of men's voices, and Mum says he'll have to go to a rehoming centre once he's well. Jasmine is not having it! Can she make him into such a good dog that the family can't say no?

And there's plenty of chaos to keep it light. Her little brother Manu and his friend Ben bake cupcakes that might have a cow's tooth in them. Two borrowed chinchillas chew her big sister's summer project into confetti.

A gentle heads-up. Sky arrives very close to death, Mum mentions he might have to be put down if he doesn't improve, and later he bolts into a storm and runs across a busy road. A very sensitive animal lover might want a cuddle nearby for those bits.

What to read next

This is the third book about Jasmine. If your reader wants to go back to the beginning, A Piglet Called Truffle is where her story starts, with a tiny piglet hidden under its brothers and sisters in the straw.