Sea Dog.

Sylvia Pantaleo is an assistant professor of education specializing in
children’s literature at Queen’s University and the co-author of
Learning with Literature in the Canadian Elementary Classroom.

Kyle is sad that his father no longer lives in the same house with him. One morning, Kyle’s mother replicates the ritual of Kyle and his father enjoying a pancake breakfast and engaging in a subsequent scavenger hunt on the beach after a storm. Kyle discovers a nearly drowned dog under a mass of seaweed and takes it home. The dog recovers and Kyle names it Treasure.

A few months later while walking on the beach, Kyle witnesses Treasure running up to a stranger and adorning the man with affection. The man, Bill, returns to Kyle’s house with him and his mother. Bill recounts the history of Treasure, describing how his daughter gave him a puppy when she grew older and stopped sailing with him about two years ago. Somehow, the puppy fell overboard during a storm but miraculously survived. Bill named the dog Otter because of its swimming facility. But the story doesn’t end there. Later, Bill was about to sell his boat, and decided to take it out for one last sail. Once again, he got caught in a storm and Otter went overboard.

Kyle understands that Bill needs the dog more than him, but the two characters work out a compromise to share Otter/Treasure, and indeed both find a new friend.

The story communicates the power of friendships between humans and animals. The dog brings happiness and love to both man and boy. Realistic pencil drawings are interspersed throughout the book and the artwork complements the narrative events. Recommended.