Combat-Wounded Dogs

November 1, 2009
For anyone already in love with pooches, the titles in the Dog Heroes series will only increase the certainty that dogs are the greatest things on the planet. The series is a surprising 17 titles deep and touches on everything from sled dogs to the Dogs Scouts of America. Combat-Wounded Dogs kicks off with a bombing in 2006 Iraq, where an explosion not only wounded soldier Brendan Poelaert but also Flapoor, his military working dog (MWD). Flapoors survival is but one tale in a long history of canine soldiering, which took off in World War II and continued through Vietnam, where it is estimated that 10,000 soldiers were saved by dogs. A red-and-black design fits the dramatic atmosphere, and challenging vocabulary words (shrapnel, aerovaced) nudge along the ultimately inspiring story of how MWDs evolved from equipment to soldiers. This is satisfying coverage of a high-interest topic.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)