This is weakest of the Animal Inn books that I've read so far. My criticism of it is going to seem far too harsh, I know, but I'm going to do it anyway.
I am not a member of the targeted audience for this series. I wasn't the fist time I discovered the series when I was in my 20s and certainly am out of the ballpark for a target audience member now that I'm 47. Why do I read this series at my age? I do it for relaxation.
This book did not make me relaxed. Far from it. I found it quite upsetting because a poor dog is abandoned and another is diagnosed with cancer. Now, I realize that some degree of realism has to pop up in a kid's book series. It's in the second book of the series in spades and does a very good job of handling a very sad subject.
It's not handled so well this time. It seemed a bit gratuitous, like a close-up of a car crash victim instead of just the standard news chopper's view of it.
Now, I could be overreacting to events in the book. I fully admit that. However, this is the honest way I feel about the book and where else can one be honest in life except in a book review?