Dogs of War – Quick Picks (2014)

Keenan, S., & Fox, N. (2013). Dogs of war. New York, NY: Scholastic.

There are three dogs in this book, Boots, Loki, and Sheba.  Boots was a dog in WWI.  His story is of being a medical dog who is a “mercy dog” that finds people on the battlefield who are still alive and need medical attention.  In his story Boots saves his owner, Marcellinus, when he is shot and in the crosshairs of a German soldier, but is saved by Boots and able to be reunited with his father.  Loki is a dog from WWII and is a sled dog in Greenland.  He is used to pull sleds and with his handler, Cooper, they together try to help destroy a top secret weapon that was left on a crashed plane.  Loki helps Cooper get back to the crash site and away from the Nazi’s tracking him.  Sheba was a dog in the Vietnam War.  She was trained to be a scout dog to help sense snipers, booby traps, and daisy chains. 

This book does a great job of showing through a graphic novel format of how dogs have served in our military throughout the years.  At the end of the book the author leaves a note going into more detail about how and why our military has used dogs.  She also gives a bibliography of other books, dvds, and websites for more information.  The book is not a true story, but is based on stories that were true and she put them into a narrative that could have happened.  This is a great resource to use in a history class as students study all aspects of war. Upper elementary through high school would enjoy this book.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4b7Q08oTDo book trailer

Dogs on Duty: Soldiers' Best Friends on the Battlefield and Beyond by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent