Brave! What a wonderful book about a boy’s best friend and also a boy that is the dog’s best friend. It seems that finding brave was the best thing that could happen to Dylan. This book was excellent in discussing friendship, loyalty and making good choices. Absolutely a 5 star read!

Brave is a middle grade novel about the friendship between a stray dog who’d survived a hurricane and a boy dealing with a father deployed overseas while navigating middle school and friendships. I’ve read books by Ms. Shotz and enjoy her novels about dogs and I cannot wait to share this novel with my daughter who is in middle school and loves dogs.

Dylan finds a dog who is scared, lost, and hungry. He decides to name the dog Brave. Brave is friendly but he is untrained and extremely fearful of loud noises. Dylan has never had a dog and doesn’t know what to do to care for Brave. Luckily when Brave gets away after being scared by a loud noise he runs to Garcia Ranch and the very capable Grace. Grace is in Dylan’s same grade but they didn’t spend time together and they had different friends. Thanks to Brave the two become fast friends but this causes strain in Dylan’s friendship with Jaxon, his best friend for many years.

Brave pushes Dylan outside his comfort zone. They both need each other and need to trust each other if Dylan is going to be allowed to keep Brave. Brave and Dylan both grow and try new things and learn about what they are capable of. All the while Dylan is becoming better friends with Grace and learning what type of friend he wants to be.

I recommend this book for anyone in grades 4-7 who loves animals, especially dogs. Also, enjoy learning about the Blue Lacy brews, which is a breed of dog I was not familiar with and I hope to see in person one day.