Needless to say this journey is fraught with dangers. Many of the dogs are older now and travel is very difficult. At one point in the story
an abandoned skate board is discovered and ultimately used to transport an ailing member. They make the trip safely through the intervention of their long standing friendship with a financially well-off semi- derelict old lady. She speaks dog language and is able to secure veterinary help for the injured leader shortly before they arrive at their new home.

During the leader’s absence, Waggit is forced to assume the role.  While he enjoys the adulation, he regrets terribly the loss of privacy. When the leader returns all healed and ready to resume his role, Waggit is happy and sets about exploring and searching for other lost and thrown away dogs.

The reader leaves each volume of this  series hopeful and happy.  The earlier books are WAGGIT’S TALE and WAGGIT’S AGAIN. These would make tremendous readalouds for grades 3 through 5 or even 6th. It is a series so well crafted with humor, suspense and loving characters .  If a child is breathing, I can almost guarantee he/she will fall in love completely with Waggit.

Three children–two black one white–find each other after a battle has left them homeless and alone. Eleven year old Luke has run off to join the Union army; nine year old Daylily is lost in the woods.  Luke feels protective of Daylily and accepts the responsibility for her care. Together they  find seven year old Caswell, the white son of a plantation owner.

Luke is hoping to meet up with other slaves whom he knows are heading north to join the Union army. Then three kids finally decide to work together to survive.  During their journey they encounter all kinds of obstacles and problems ending up ultimately at Harpers Ferry. Here Daylily who had been taught secretly to read and write becomes a teacher to other freed slave children and adults. Caswell happily has accepted a place in a negro household until his father , a rebel Cavalry survivor , locates his son and returns him to their plantation.  Luke meanwhile has found a place for himself as a man servant to a Union Officer.  However the trio have many trials and tribulations along the road to their final spots. It is through these various happenings the reader come to feel and experience life during the war.

Once this book is read aloud to students they will come away with a much more definitive look at the war. No, they will not know the names of the battles or the heroes from either side,  but they will have a compassion for the people around whom this horrible  war raged. Each of the children represent a segment of society involved in this conflict.

The resolution of the story sets the stage for later historical events  such as the Civil Rights legislation. A mesmerizing read guaranteed to keep every listener in rapt silence.