(2) 4-6 All eleven-year-old Oli, who is autistic, likes to do is design buildings on his Design-a-House app. He’s called a “wimp” and “boring” at school, but otherwise kids mainly leave him alone. His parents sign him up for HERO Club over spring break to help him learn how to socialize and make friends. Oli sees this as a “terrible fate,” but he does make friends, start to learn how to handle his emotions, and even orchestrate a rescue mission of a dog who is trapped in a nearby building. Foster creates a first-person point of view that effectively lets readers observe the world the way a young autistic boy might. (Foster herself is autistic, as she indicates in the acknowledgments.) And what they see in Oli is a loving child who is ultimately open to friendships and who discovers that he loves dogs. Like lots of boy-and-dog stories, this one may move readers to tears, not because it ends like Old Yeller or Where the Red Fern Grows but because Oli is such a well-drawn, likable character whom readers will come to care about and cheer on.

Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2025

(2) 4-6 Eleven-year-old Alex is in grade six and lives on the Gold Coast of Australia. He is autistic and feels he needs a strategy for making friends: be good enough at his favorite computer game, OrbsWorld; run faster and contribute to the track relays coming up; or win a trophy at the upcoming PAWS dog show. Foster's effective first-person narrative gives readers insight into how the protagonist's mind works, allowing them to observe the world the way he does (e.g., his difficulty with noise and crowds and with reading people's facial expressions). The tension of the story rides on the dog show, not only how Alex's dog, Kevin, will do, but also how Alex will cope with the crowds and excitement. By the novel's end, he realizes that not only has he learned how to be a friend, but he's also had a friend all along. It is a testament to Foster's craft in character development that readers will care so much about the earnest, good-hearted Alex and that the final, tear-jerking scene is such a surprise.

Reviewer: Dean Schneider | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2023