Stella

This is a great book!! If you have not read it you need to. It is a sweet story of love, loss, and friendship! I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves dogs and would like to see what it’s like from the inside out!

McCall Hoyle’s newest book is a must read.Stella a beagle dog has experienced a horrific accident. She feels that it is her fault!The result is overwhelming anxiety until until she meets a girl who has epilepsy. Everything changes as she builds a relationship. And she learns that trust and taking risks are the way to find courage to trust again.Universal message that McCall portrays through the eyes of a very special dog.

Stella is a precious story about a service dog that experienced tragedy, but overcomes it! It’s written for middle school, but a great read for adults, as well.I love McCall Hoyle’s books! This one did not disappoint. Highly recommend for anyone!

This is a fantastic book. It is geared for ages 8-11, but it is a fantastic read for all ages. It is written from a service dogs point of view.

I loved the way Stella's emotions and voice was so simpatico with mine. Her struggles made me empathize with her and I rejoiced with Stella as she overcame her fears. Lovely book!

What an amazing book! Stella is a beagle who has a job sniffing out explosives. While on duty she smells explosive material and is about to alert when a security guard opens a door that causes a cross draft and confuses her for just a moment. That moment is all it takes for the bad guy to arm the explosive and cause havoc. Following the explosion, Stella sees her handler, Connie, laying on the concrete and not moving. Then Connie is carried away by some men in uniform. Stella misses Connie. She is also suffer from post traumatic stress disorder as a result of the incident. They have decided to retire Stella, but have been unsuccessful in placing her successfully because of her behavior when left alone or around loud noises. Just when it seems Stella may be in for permanent retirement, a dog trainer who also happens to be Connie’s friend, agrees to try to help her recuperate. Stella forms a special bond with the trainer’s daughter. That bond will challenge Stella to do that which she never thought she could.I enjoy reading middle grade and young adult books for a change of pace occasionally. I choose this book because I thought it fit that category. Well it does, but it is so much more. It is a story about overcoming fears and having the courage to do that which we think is impossible. As you would expect from a book for the younger reader, it is clean. There are no sex scenes, no uses of alcohol and no foul language. There is a small amount of non-physical violence in the form of bullying, but is is not overly graphic. It reads like any well written novel for adults and will definitely pull your heartstrings.The book is written from the perspective of Stella, but the writer does an amazing job with that point of view. She doesn’t attribute a lot of human characteristics to Stella, but rather puts human words to canine characteristics. This approach makes the book so realistic and genuine. It is obvious that Ms. Hoyle did her research.I was so engrossed In the story I had to complete the book in one setting, I just couldn’t walk away without knowing the ending. This story had me in tears more than once and I laughed out loud several times. I know if you give it a try, you will likely love it as much as I did. I recommend this book to everyone, especially those who have a love for animals.

Stella used her strong scent skills in her job as a chemical sniffing dog at airports until a mistake cost the life of her handler and best friend. Traumatized and suffering from ptsd, Stella is moved between different foster family as they try to help and rehabilitate her. Given a last chance on a farm with a mother and daughter, Stella must try her best to be a good dog, despite the fears that keep tripping her up.Told from the perspective of the dog herself, Stella is a curious, friendly dog who blames herself for her human's death. It's fascinating to read the book from Stella's perspective. She views the world through her strong nose and through her attachments to the humans she loves. Stella also drops tips throughout the book on the best ways to communicate with, interact with, and train dogs. Life is simpler for dogs, but Stella needs to overcome her fears, find a new purpose in life, and try to communicate with humans who don't understand her.Stella's new human is a young girl with epilepsy. Chloe doesn't have any friends, but has lots of time to spend training, playing with, and loving Stella. Given all her help, perhaps Stella can do the impossible and help Chloe in return.There were some parts in this book that had me near tears. They were good emotional moments. Stella is so sweet and innocent and needs such a big hug. This is a book for dog lovers of all ages. The story touched on some sensitive topics, like death, euthanizing, and epilepsy. Not in too much detail on any topic, but enough to bring up the topics on a children's (and dog's) level.I highly recommend this book for everyone. It's a perfect, sweet, heartwarming read.