There is a lot going on in this early reader chapter book. The story itself is cute. Elliott does not have any friends and prefers to spend time alone. His older brother Sam, is a volunteer at an animal shelter. Sam has to go in to work and must take Elliott with him as their parents are not home. Elliott is afraid of dogs, but does not want anyone to know. His neighbours, Amy and Kyung ask to go with them to see the puppies. Off they go. At the shelter them meet a man, Mr. Rooney who lives nearby and recently lost his old dog Quincy. While at the shelter, Elliott meets an older dog, Toby and the girls fall in love with the puppies. With a storm raging and the possibility of the shelter flooding, they take the dogs and puppies to Mr. Rooney's cabin on the hill. While there they solve a series of riddles to find a treasure, lose one of the puppies and become friends with Mr. Rooney. All's well that ends well. This is a cute story about caring for pets as well as the importance of rescue animals needing a home. Throughout the story there are factual pages about caring for animals, adopting a new pet and more. A great book for a primary/junior classroom, family library and school. This book could be used when learning about pets, if a family is considering adopting an animal and about friendship.

I really enjoyed this book and I think young readers would too., whether you read it to them or they read it themselves. It is a fairly short chapter book about Elliott and his brother Sam who works at an animal shelter. Elliott has to go with his brother to work and he doesn't want to go, but 2 neighborhood girls beg to go along. A bad storm hit, roads are flooded and they must get the dogs to safety. Interspersed are learning pages teaching about pets, animal shelters, vets, animal adoption and puppy care. It teaches the importance of responsibility and kindness to animals. I love the fact that it teaches young readers about animal adoption instead of purchasing expensive pets while so many animals die in shelters.

Puppy Rescue Riddle (Animal Planet Adventure Chapter Book #3) by Catherine Nichols is a charming early chapter book that intersperse nonfiction within the fictional narrative of children helping to find shelter for animals. Along the way there are treasure riddles to solve, new friends to enjoy, a puppy to find and fears to overcome. This realistic story has characters that young readers can identify with in situations that give pause for thought.

Within this story is clear concise interesting information about adopting and caring for a pet. The nonfiction illustrations include photographs. The fictional illustrations enhance the enjoyment of the text.

For readers moving into independent reading of chapters books, I believe this would become a favorite. Not too scary but with plenty of true life adventure. In my educational career this is just what I found young readers like in their realistic fiction.