Chuck and Danielle

A fun little story - or series of stories. Chuck is a (female) whippet, on the far end of the spectrum of her naturally nervous breed; Danielle is her owner, the daughter of a single mother. The stories follow Chuck's encounters with various terrible whippet-eating monsters, ranging from motorcycles and Monstercats (the ones that don't run away) to balloons and a cardboard tunnel. In a completely non-anthropomorphized and non-cutesy way, Chuck navigates all these dangers and has some surprising successes along the way - sometimes by overcoming her fear, sometimes by giving in to it. Danielle manages her dog very nicely, helping put the best, most useful face on her actions. And Chuck solves a few problems for her, very nicely. Happy ending, even - not a cliche-y one, but a realistic one. A book I'll read again, though probably not soon. ( )

mixed results, just OK.