Shelby’s Story: A Dog’s Way Home Tale

W. Bruce Cameron's Shelby's Story is a tender dog's-eye tale for 8 year olds about a hungry stray puppy learning, very slowly, to trust people.

What happens

Shelby tells it herself. She's born in a yard where her mother is kept on a chain, and the only person around puts down a bowl twice a day and never stays to say hello.

The puppies are always a little bit hungry. So one day Shelby and her sister Splotch squeeze through a gap under the fence to find more food.

The world outside is enormous. There are bins full of wonderful smells, wheels everywhere (Shelby decides wheels are NOT kind to dogs) and people who shout or throw stones.

Then the sisters get separated, and Shelby ends up alone. She makes her home at a rubbish tip, sharing it with rats and seagulls and one very unfriendly cat.

It's the dog logic that makes this so lovely to read. Shelby can't understand why people put all that food out and then get cross when a dog eats it. She thinks the cat running up a tree is her not knowing the rules of Chase-Me.

And then there's Megan. She doesn't grab or shout. She just sits down on the ground and waits, with a pocket full of treats. The chapter where Shelby works up the courage to take one from her hand is really beautiful.

Later on, Shelby ends up working on a film set and learning a whole new set of commands.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

Shelby is hungry and lonely for a long time. She's hit by a stone, and she watches her sister being caught with a wire loop on a pole. A man at the tip even fires a gun near her (it misses, and she runs). Nothing is described in a gory way, but an animal-loving child might need a hug.

If your reader loves dogs and doesn't mind a few tears on the way to a happier place, they'll be completely hooked.

What to read next

If they'd like another Cameron dog who was rescued by a shelter, Lily to the Rescue is in the library too. Lily was taken in by the animal shelter where her girl Maggie Rose's mum works, and now she goes there every day to look after the other animals.