Dog Walker (Orca Currents) [Paperback]

Karen Spafford-Fitz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2006 | Grade Level: 5 and up | Series: Orca Currents

Turk's money making scheme gets out of control. (RL2.6) (20070401)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...easy to present to reluctant readers..." (VOYA 20060926)

**no details** (CM Magazine 20061101)

" an amusing and clever book. Excellent" (Resource Links 20070401)

"While this fast-paced, dialogue-filled romp is a delight for all dog lovers, any reader will enjoy Turk's quick-thinking solution that has him racing to keep the girl and the dog." (Blogcritics.org 20080615)

"a quick read with believable characters. Recommended for reluctant readers" (KLIATT )

"A good choice for any reluctant reader...a fun and interesting story." (Washington State Revew Group )

"...a fun read...this book should appeal to both boys and girls. Recommended." (Canadian Book Review Annual )

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

"Just one question, Turk," Mom says. "Why didn't you tell us sooner?"

Mom must have read another parenting article. I can almost see the headline: Getting your Teen to Open Up to You.

"Well, er...I wanted to get my business running before I said anything. And," I put on my most innocent face, "I had this crazy idea you might think my business was something shady, stupid or immoral."

I can't tell for sure, but I think Mom and Dad almost look ashamed.

Yes! (20060601)

Product Details

• Paperback: 110 pages
• Publisher: Orca Book Publishers (March 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1551435225
• ISBN-13: 978-1551435220
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5.8 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #934,751 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What do you get when you mix boys, dogs, and girls?, October 1, 2006

By 

Vikk Simmons "(Travel writer, YA author & blo... (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dog Walker (Orca Currents) (Paperback)

Turk's mom reads parenting magazines. Turk's mom loves their suggestions. Turk's mom insists on family nights and moments otherwise known as "quality time." In Canadian author Karen Spafford-Fitz's debut novel Dog Walker, Turk, otherwise known as Winston Turkington, is broke and allergic to his own sweat. His parents want him to -- gasp -- earn his money and he finds himself walking a dog.

Turk discovers a new cash flow equation: dogs plus girls equal new opportunity. Realization: cash is on the way. Once he's got the girl, the cash, and a growing new business, Spafford-Fitz flips the table on her young protagonist and spins his life out of control.

Before you know it, Turk's dog-walking dating service gets complicated. Walkers are sick; boys fight over dogs and girls. Worse, Turk brags and spills everything to Chuck, the swaggering, most obnoxious guy in school, who then bullies his way into Turk's business. Soon Turk's new-found love life is upside down.

While this fast-paced, dialogue-filled romp is a delight for all dog lovers, any reader will enjoy Turk's quick-thinking solution that has him racing to keep the dog and the girl. Dog Walker is ideal for middle-grade readers ages 10-14.

4.0 out of 5 stars A fun & easy read, June 22, 2011

By 

Natasha Deen "Natasha Deen" (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dog Walker (Orca Currents) (Paperback)

This is a great summer read: easy, light, and quick. The general premise: Turk, the kid who's allergic to his own sweat, comes up with a scheme to meet girls: walking dogs. Though written as current time, the book had a `40s kind of feel to it, mostly because of KSF's writing style, which is to give you enough description and information for the moment. I'm a detail kind of reader, but I didn't find her style jarring or hard to read. Rather, it matched the main character, which was perfect. He didn't strike me as the kid who would notice huge details or anything that occurred past the end of his nose, so it worked for me. Though Turk is one of those kids that can leave an adult rolling their eyes, I thought he was identifiable and his personality is completely understandable, given the way KSF writes his parents...in all, a nice read for the relaxed days of summer.

4.0 out of 5 stars a very good book, August 14, 2007

By 

Reader Views "Reviews, by readers, for readers" (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dog Walker (Orca Currents) (Paperback)

Reviewed by Christian Gauvin (age 11) for Reader Views (8/07)

"Dog Walker" is a story about a boy and his friends, dogs, and girls. Turk (the boy) has to walk his dad's boss' dog after his parents take care of her all night. When he meets up with his friend Leo, two girls come up and tell him how cute the dog is. After that he decides to open a dog-walking business to meet girls and make cash. He meets with his friends and they join the business too.

There are two rules. No one can tell anyone about the business and Turk gets half the money. Since no one wants to walk the ugly or super wild dogs, Turk gets stuck with them. When he's on a walk, he meets a girl named Carly that he has known since the fourth-grade. She tells him that she's going away for the weekend and she asks him to look after her dog. He says ok, but then the next day he realizes that one of his workers is sick and everyone else is busy. Then he decides that he and his best friend can take care of three dogs at his place. When he comes back with one of the dogs, he realizes that someone took the dog that Carly owns when he was supposed to take care of him. Then he takes one of the dogs with him and goes out to find the dog. After an hour or two of searching, he gives up. Does he ever find Carly's dog? I'll let you figure out what happens next when you read "Dog Walker," which is a very good book that I would suggest to kids ten and up who like dogs. It is also good for kids that don't like very big books because it only has about 100 pages.

Book received free of charge.