The Field of the Dogs

In short, fast-paced chapters with cliff-hanger endings, this is the story of Josh, who has recently moved to Vermont and must face a new life that includes not only a new stepfather, a new baby brother, and a new school, but also a menacing bully. Then Josh stumbles upon a secret. Following his dog, Manch, out to a field near the woods one day, Josh overhears Manch and his other dog friends talking! Not only that, Josh discovers that Manch and his friends are also faced with a bully - a pack of bullies, in fact, who are threatening a fight. The dogs don't want Josh's help, but still Josh thinks he can solve their problems and his own with one simple solution. The only hitch to his plan: It's dangerous.

Taut and suspenseful, Katherine Paterson's exciting chapters, together with Emily Arnold McCully's pen-and-ink drawings, debuted in more than 100 newspapers across the country as part of the Breakfast Serials program and are now published for the first time as a book.