So, when FINDING DANNY by Linzi Glass (Walden Pond Press, an imprint of HarperCollins,  May 2010, $16.99) arrived I sat down and started to read it immediately. For the next two hours I sat transfixed. I joined character Bree as her life became upside down after her beloved dog, Danny, disappeared one day.

Bree has other family problems with both her parents absent often in pursuit of developing media related careers.  When Danny first is gone, Bree valiantly searches her immediate locked secure neighborhood. Immediately beyond her area, Bree finds Danny’s collar stuck in a hedge. The collar her broken apart so Danny is on the loose.

Now begins the real heart of this story.  Bree goes the usual route of checking shelters all to no avail. At one point Bree risks her life to prevent a dog from being run over by a speeding car.  The dog’s owner, Rayleen, is associated with Vox Street Animal Shelter, a no-kill shelter. Soon  Bree is deeply involved.
Rayleen is truly a character.  She travels in a truck with 9-10 dogs along. She has come to this shelter basically because they are in great need and soon might be forced to put some dogs to sleep.  Bree is aghast at this prospect and gets involved in plans to save the animals and the shelter.

While all of the activity is getting Bree’s attention  her family life and school life are becoming more and more involved.  In school Bree is assigned a role in English class where she will be playing queen to the most popular boy,  Ashton, playing king. She has a minor tiff with her mother, the TV reporter, and her father is off reporting another incident.

Bree always of the lookout for her dog Danny,  soon becomes immersed in Rescue work. This rescue work  consumes Bree and her family and friends. This truly is the meat of the story and make s a dramatic pitch to get more young people involved in rescue work at shelters.

What the young people in the story do can serve as a model for youngster anywhere. Cruelty and abandonment are serious problems in society today.  Getting young people involved should help educate all of us to alleviate some of these problems. The ending, of course, is happy, but I felt deserving for our young heroine. She has surmounted various obstacles but has done so with logic and hard work–good examples for young readers of today.