Product Description

Nick, a deaf seventh grader, befriends a mysterious girl who is training and protecting a pack of valuable sheepdogs on her own.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2637146 in Books
• Published on: 2000-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 175 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 4-6-One snowy day close to Christmas, Nick Wilder, a 13-year-old dog lover, meets a mysterious girl in the pet store where he works and is also threatened by a school bully who comes into the shop. This bully dares Nick to meet him at an abandoned hotel the next day. Nick, who is deaf, decides to go to prove he is not chicken. On his way to the hotel, a blizzard begins, he meets up with the same girl and her dogs, and has a run-in with the bully who is using the hotel as a hangout to smoke and sell pot with his friends. The girl is living alone in a house near the hotel, hiding with her famous sheepherding dogs and awaiting her father's return from Scotland. Nick helps her out and gets even deeper involved-a man is looking for her and plans to steal the dogs. The story builds slowly to a brave rescue by Nick, and all's well that ends well. A subplot revolves around the boy's concern that his divorced mother is planning to remarry. The characters are real enough, and the plot moves at a steady pace. A light, well-rounded story that will appeal to dog lovers and mystery fans.
Angela J. Reynolds, Washington County Cooperative Library Services, Aloha, OR
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Gr. 5-7. Secrets abound in the sequel to Nick's Mission (1995). His mother's relationship with a boyfriend is changing, and 13-year-old Nick, who is deaf, knows there are aspects she's not sharing with him. Nick is in the uncomfortable position of keeping secrets from her, too: he's being harassed by Darryl Smythe and his gang, whom Nick discovered vandalizing a building. When Darryl summons Nick to an abandoned motel, Nick knows it could be dangerous. He's right. Fortunately, a mysterious, gun-toting girl, Ionie Hunter, who is hiding out at the motel, is around to rescue him. Suddenly, Nick has another secret to guard: Ionie is trying to protect her sheepdogs from a determined dognapper. Blatchford tells a good story, with the suspense building steadily to a satisfying conclusion as all of Nick's secrets become intertwined. It's Nick's resourcefulness that will win readers here. Chris Sherman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From Kirkus Reviews
The latest novel in the Nick Wilder Mystery series that began with Nick's Mission (not reviewed) continues the light mysteries that surround the boy who lost his hearing at the age of six. Because of his deafness, Nick has a highly sensitized ability to read facial expressions and body language. But it will take more than that to deal with the combination of problems that surround him. In a showdown with a bully named Daryl and his pot-selling friends, Daryl tries to intimidate Nick into becoming a lookout for their gang. But a mysterious new girl arrives, pointing a rifle at the boys and helping Nick escape. He learns that Ionie and her father breed, raise, train, and sell prize sheepdogs; she has been left alone to care for seven of them while her father takes her dying grandmother to Scotland. Because Daryl has stolen $350 from Ionie's cabin, she is unable to feed her dogs. To this plot, add the danger of dog thieves who will do anything short of murder to obtain these expensive dogs. Harboring Ionie in the basement of his work place (which happens to be a pet shop), Nick is able to provide a safe haven. However, it is only by trusting the adults in his life-his mother, her new boyfriend, and his boss-that Nick can finally assure Ionie's complete safety. While not high art, this simple mystery will satisfy young readers who will enjoy the intrigue, and it has the bonus of having a hearing-impaired hero. (Fiction. 9-12) -- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.