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
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