STELLA

A small dog with a big heart takes charge of sheep, goats, and a very special boy on a struggling ranch in the latest entry in the Dogs With a Purpose series.

As a corgi puppy, Stella may not look the part of a sheepherding dog to those who aren’t in the know—but she’s smart and descended from a breed originally designed to herd livestock. Stella comes to Raging River Ranch with all the self-confidence she needs to guard a woolly flock and learn the special commands her beloved new boy, 13-year-old Mateo Schmidt, teaches her, including “Come Bye!” “Away to Me!” and “Drop!” Detailed, dog’s-eye views of training and ranch life lend the book a strong air of authenticity. Cameron intertwines a human tale of a family troubled by devastating losses, including the death of Mateo’s mother when he was four, with a doggy coming-of-age story that features challenges including a rambunctious new herd of Angora goats, a grass fire, flash flooding, and coyote attacks. On the way to an upbeat ending, the author even folds in an ecological lesson: The goats provide both an alternative to herbicides and a much-needed new income stream by avidly consuming a neighbor’s aggressively invasive knapweed patch. Mateo, like most of the human cast members, is racially ambiguous. Final art not seen.

Exciting, poignant, and thoroughly doggy.