Stella By McCall Hoyle

Summary

From: Carol Pennington

Book Title: Stella
Book Author: McCall Hoyle
What do you like about this book:
What an amazing book! Stella is a beagle who has a job sniffing out explosives. While on duty she smells explosive material and is about to alert when a security guard opens a door that causes a cross draft and confuses her for just a moment. That moment is all it takes for the bad guy to arm the explosive and cause havoc. Following the explosion, Stella sees her handler, Connie, laying on the concrete and not moving. Then Connie is carried away by some men in uniform. Stella misses Connie. She is also suffer from post traumatic stress disorder as a result of the incident. They have decided to retire Stella, but have been unsuccessful in placing her successfully because of her behavior when left alone or around loud noises. Just when it seems Stella may be in for permanent retirement, a dog trainer who also happens to be Connie’s friend, agrees to try to help her recuperate. Stella forms a special bond with the trainer’s daughter. That bond will challenge Stella to do that which she never thought she could.

I enjoy reading middle grade and young adult books for a change of pace occasionally. I choose this book because I thought it fit that category. Well it does, but it is so much more. It is a story about overcoming fears and having the courage to do that which we think is impossible. As you would expect from a book for the younger reader, it is clean. There are no sex scenes, no uses of alcohol and no foul language. There is a small amount of non-physical violence in the form of bullying, but is is not overly graphic. It reads like any well written novel for adults and will definitely pull your heartstrings.

The book is written from the perspective of Stella, but the writer does an amazing job with that point of view. She doesn’t attribute a lot of human characteristics to Stella, but rather puts human words to canine characteristics. This approach makes the book so realistic and genuine. It is obvious that Ms. Hoyle did her research.

I was so engrossed In the story I had to complete the book in one setting, I just couldn’t walk away without knowing the ending. This story had me in tears more than once and I laughed out loud several times. I know if you give it a try, you will likely love it as much as I did. I recommend this book to everyone, especially those who have a love for animals.