MMGM- Zeus and Daring Dogs

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Tubb, Kristin O'Donnell. Zeus: Dog of Chaos
June 2nd 2020 by Katherine Tegen Books
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Madden is getting used to living with his mother, an Army lieutenant, after having spent a lot of time with his grandparents while his mother was deployed. His father passed away when he was younger. Madden has diabetes, and even though he has a Continuous Glucose Monitor and manages very well, his mother is worried about him. Because he wants to play tuba in the school band, and his mother thinks this will stress his system, he gets a service dog to help monitor his condition. Zeus has been well trained, and does a great job keeping track of Madden's glucose levels and alerting him when they are too low or too high, but does have some behavioral issues. These stem from a series of misunderstandings-- Madden wants to fly "under the radar" at school and not draw attention to himself, but he loves music and is outstanding at playing the tuba, which leads Zeus to conclude that his mission is to "kill the music" in order for Madden to go unnoticed. This leads the dog to steal the teacher's baton, eat fund raiser food, and even attempt to ruin the instruments. Of course, this is NOT what Madden wants, and he struggles to understand why Zeus is acting out. He befriends Ashvi, a flute player with whom is assigned a duet for a concert, and she tries to help out with Zeus as well. Zeus's actions manage to get Madden in trouble with his mother, whom he is still trying to figure out. With a state contest looming, will Madden be able to control Zeus so that his group has a chance to win?
Strengths: There are relatively few books about children managing diabetes, but there is a least one student at my school every year dealing with this. I had a friend with diabetes when I was in middle school, and it would have been really helpful to have a book like this to understand the issues with which he had to deal. The information about diabetes is well balanced with Zeus' exploits and with the band practices and plans to go to contest. This makes the book a quick, compelling read that also has a lot of funny moments. My favorite part was Madden trying to get used to dealing with his mother and her attempts at controlling his diabetes-- I have one student whose mother gets blood sugar alerts on her phone, and will sometimes text her daughter!
Weaknesses: I personally had trouble believing that Zeus's doggy brain would be so fixated on ruining the music, but it makes for a good story. I'm not a huge fan of books written from animals' perspective, but my students LOVE them.
What I really think: This author's A Dog Like Daisy has been very popular, so I will definitely be purchasing this title. It also does a better job at explaining the training of diabetes service dogs than the The Truth According to Blue.

Hamilton, Kimberlie. Daring Dogs: 30 True Tales of Heroic Hounds June 2nd 2020 by Scholastic Nonfiction
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

In this delightfully illustrated book, we are treated to one page explanations of dogs that were especially heroic. Along with these biographies, there is also shorter bits of information about other dogs who did similar feats, as well as facts about dog behaviors. The dogs come from around the globe, and span an impressive range of history. I am definitely a dog person, so some of the stories of dogs staying by their human companions made me tear up more than a little!

This is a fun twist on the biography compilations of women,scientists, explorers, African-Americans, etc. that have been popular lately. This one somehow reminded me visually a bit of The Color Kittens, so I went into the book feeling warm and fuzzy already! It doesn't have any photos, which is always a bit disappointing even if it is completely understandable. I still want to buy one to tear apart for bulletin boards. I never actually do this, but some books make me want to!

Of course, if I purchase the dog book, I will also have to purchase the cat one (November 2019, Scholastic Nonfiction), even though I have my reservation about feline heroics!