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American Dog #3
Chestnut
From the #1 New York Times best-selling author of Max comes a heartwarming, middle grade adventure story about a rescue dog, Chestnut, who befriends a girl trying to save her family's Christmas tree farm in North Carolina.
Chestnut is a dog without a family. After being abandoned in the wild, Chestnut is wandering the North Carolina countryside trying to survive. When twelve-year-old Meg stumbles upon him on the outskirts of her family’s Christmas tree farm, she just knows that they’re meant to be together forever. The only problem? The farm is on the brink of closing down, and her family can’t afford a pet. Meg knows she has what it takes to save the business and take care of Chestnut—she’ll just need to keep him a secret until then. Will Meg and Chestnut get their Christmas miracle?
Chestnut is a dog without a family. After being abandoned in the wild, Chestnut is wandering the North Carolina countryside trying to survive. When twelve-year-old Meg stumbles upon him on the outskirts of her family’s Christmas tree farm, she just knows that they’re meant to be together forever. The only problem? The farm is on the brink of closing down, and her family can’t afford a pet. Meg knows she has what it takes to save the business and take care of Chestnut—she’ll just need to keep him a secret until then. Will Meg and Chestnut get their Christmas miracle?
- GenresDogs
336 pages, Hardcover
Published October 6, 2020
4 people are currently reading
77 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 23, 2023
Ok, now I’m officially hooked on this series!
Meg has a lot on her plate this year, and her brain is racing to keep up! It’s her first time helping out at her family’s tree farm, and she really wants to impress her parents and older siblings. Plus, there’s been an undercurrent of worry lately, having to do with being able to maintain their farm, so Meg knows how crucial it is to work hard. When she discovers an abandoned dog on their property, she’s beside herself with joy, because her heart’s desire is to have her own dog. The problem is, her parents gave an adamant No to the idea of dog ownership in the past, and they meant it. How in the world can she convince them to change their minds and let her keep this pup that instantly bonded with her?
Great dog story with themes of friendship, family relationships, and responsibility, that middle-grade readers, (and dog-lovers of any age), would thoroughly enjoy. The author’s notes about Plott hounds are a bonus, as are the descriptions of Meg’s pine-cone ornaments and how she made them.
Moving right along to the next one in this series!
Meg has a lot on her plate this year, and her brain is racing to keep up! It’s her first time helping out at her family’s tree farm, and she really wants to impress her parents and older siblings. Plus, there’s been an undercurrent of worry lately, having to do with being able to maintain their farm, so Meg knows how crucial it is to work hard. When she discovers an abandoned dog on their property, she’s beside herself with joy, because her heart’s desire is to have her own dog. The problem is, her parents gave an adamant No to the idea of dog ownership in the past, and they meant it. How in the world can she convince them to change their minds and let her keep this pup that instantly bonded with her?
Great dog story with themes of friendship, family relationships, and responsibility, that middle-grade readers, (and dog-lovers of any age), would thoroughly enjoy. The author’s notes about Plott hounds are a bonus, as are the descriptions of Meg’s pine-cone ornaments and how she made them.
Moving right along to the next one in this series!
January 23, 2023
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Meg lives with her family, including two older siblings, on a Christmas tree farm. The family business is barely keeping the family afloat financially, so when Meg gets a new coat for her birthday, it's a big deal. What she would really like is a dog, but her parents have said "absolutely not". When she finds an injured puppy on the farm, she and her friend Colton (who has several dogs) tend to the dog's paw and keep him in an unused barn while he heals. Meg wants to tell her parents, but first tries to figure out a way to soften them up, trying to find ways to earn money for his upkeep. She names the dog Chestnut, and Colton informs her that he is a Plott hound, a breed that is often used for tracking and hunting. Chestnut is very anxious, especially about being separated from Meg. Meg does manage to make a little bit of money selling Christmas tree ornaments when she is running the register at the tree farm, and also tries to be really helpful to her parents. Eventually, however, they find out about the dog and make Meg turn Chestnut over to the local shelter. When a large number of trees are stolen from the farm, Meg thinks that this is the chance for her and Chestnut to prove that having a dog would be helpful for the farm. Will the two be able to find the thieves?
Strengths: There are certainly more children in economically fragile situations than children who have had a parent die, and relatively few books. Running a tree farm would certainly be precarious, and the family situation is well represented. I appreciated that the father actually liked dogs and didn't want another dog because he loved a previous one so much! Colton's experience with dogs is helpful, and I always like the information about the breeds at the end of these books.
Weaknesses: Meg makes a LOT of really dangerous choices that made me highly uncomfortable. Her logic is absolutely true to how middle schoolers think and what they might do, but since her actions put both her and Chestnut at risk, they were hard to read about.
What I really think: I will still buy the entire set of these, but this wasn't my favorite because of Meg's poor choices. Students won't really think about this, nor are they likely to repeat the actions.
Meg lives with her family, including two older siblings, on a Christmas tree farm. The family business is barely keeping the family afloat financially, so when Meg gets a new coat for her birthday, it's a big deal. What she would really like is a dog, but her parents have said "absolutely not". When she finds an injured puppy on the farm, she and her friend Colton (who has several dogs) tend to the dog's paw and keep him in an unused barn while he heals. Meg wants to tell her parents, but first tries to figure out a way to soften them up, trying to find ways to earn money for his upkeep. She names the dog Chestnut, and Colton informs her that he is a Plott hound, a breed that is often used for tracking and hunting. Chestnut is very anxious, especially about being separated from Meg. Meg does manage to make a little bit of money selling Christmas tree ornaments when she is running the register at the tree farm, and also tries to be really helpful to her parents. Eventually, however, they find out about the dog and make Meg turn Chestnut over to the local shelter. When a large number of trees are stolen from the farm, Meg thinks that this is the chance for her and Chestnut to prove that having a dog would be helpful for the farm. Will the two be able to find the thieves?
Strengths: There are certainly more children in economically fragile situations than children who have had a parent die, and relatively few books. Running a tree farm would certainly be precarious, and the family situation is well represented. I appreciated that the father actually liked dogs and didn't want another dog because he loved a previous one so much! Colton's experience with dogs is helpful, and I always like the information about the breeds at the end of these books.
Weaknesses: Meg makes a LOT of really dangerous choices that made me highly uncomfortable. Her logic is absolutely true to how middle schoolers think and what they might do, but since her actions put both her and Chestnut at risk, they were hard to read about.
What I really think: I will still buy the entire set of these, but this wasn't my favorite because of Meg's poor choices. Students won't really think about this, nor are they likely to repeat the actions.
November 1, 2021
My daughter and I enjoyed reading this book together. Wonderful story about a young girl that desperately wants a dog for a pet, but her mom and dad are against it. Then she finds a shivering injured dog on her family's property and hides him while she tries to come up with a good plan on how to convince her parents to let her keep him. Unfortunately, Chestnut (the dog) escapes the shed Meg has him locked up in and shows up at the door of the house, causing dad and mom to make Meg take him to a shelter. Meg overhears her mom and dad talking to one of the men that work on their Christmas tree farm about some theft and she comes up with an idea to get Chestnut back and track the thieves down. She does this and almost loses her life in the process, but this convinces mom and dad to allow her to keep the dog. But then the Chestnut's real owner shows up and claims his dog back. But on Christmas morning something amazing happens to Meg. Will she get a dog after all??
January 2, 2022
Once you get past the horror of a girl trapping a dog in a ramshackle shed and only letting it out to run twice a day, this book is pretty good. There are a lot of lessons to be learned and anyone’s who’s ever loved a dog had better have the tissues handy.
December 15, 2024
Beautiful!! I picked this up on a whim at a library sale thinking I’d read it then pass along but I’m keeping it for myself haha. The writing was lovely and the premise about a dog and a family who owns a Christmas tree farm was perfect December reading.
February 16, 2022
Such a cute children’s novel. Parts got a little stretched out and could have easily been edited down but overall we both really enjoyed the story.
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August 19, 2022This book was awesome I can't wait to read more books like this!
December 29, 2024
great.
Exciting.
Exciting.
September 6, 2025
needed a feel good book
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews