Friday Memes: Good Dog by Dan Gemeinhart

Book Beginnings is hosted by Rose City Reader and Friday 56 is hosted by Freda's Voice.

Good Dog by Dan Gemeinhart. 290 p. Scholastic Press/ Scholastic Inc., March 27, 2018. 9781338053883. 

Publisher synopsis: Brodie was a good dog. And good dogs go to heaven.

Except Brodie can't move on. Not just yet. As wonderful as his glimpse of the afterlife is, he can't forget the boy he left behind. The boy he loved, and who loved him in return.

The boy who's still in danger.

So Brodie breaks the rules of heaven. He returns to Earth as a spirit. With the help of two other lost should - lovable pitfall Tuck and surly housecoat Patsy - he is determined to find his boy and to save him.

Even if it costs him paradise. Even if he loses his eternal soul.

Because it's what a good dog would do.

First Line: Brodie didn't remember the exact moment that he died.

Page 56: He stopped running. He looked over to the trees, to where that memory lived.
     Tuck noticed and stopped, circled back, came up to him slow.
     "Brodie?"
      Brodie looked at him.
      "I need to find him. Now. I need to know he's okay."
     Tuck's run-happy wagging slowed, but he stepped up to snuffle encouragingly at Brodie's ear.
      "All right. That's what we're here for, right? Lead the way, buddy."

While I enjoyed the author's debut, The Honest Truth, I did have some criticism. Nonetheless, I book talk it constantly and those kids who love sad books gobble it up. It is a fifth grade favorite at my school. My three copies are often checked out! 

His second book, Some Kind of Courage, just didn't grab me, so I didn't read it. Scar Island, his third was quite different than the other two and very suspenseful! It's perhaps my favorite of his.