Puppy in a Puddle

Animal Ark [GB Order] #43

by Ben M. Baglio

Alternate cover for Alternate cover edition for ISBN 0439343895/ISBN13 9780439343893 can be found here

When Mandy's dad diagnoses an Old English Sheepdog puppy as deaf, Mandy feels sorry for it. But it isn't until she finds another Sheepdog puppy weak and abandoned that she and James begin to get suspicious. Could a local breeder be mistreating these poor puppies? It's up to Mandy and James to save them!

Genres: Animals, Childrens, Fiction, Dogs, Realistic Fiction, Middle Grade, Young Adult

144 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1999

About the author

Ben M. Baglio created the brief for two series of children's books - Dolphin Diaries and Animal Ark. Dolphin Diaries features a girl and her family from Florida, who travel around the world as marine biologists and study dolphins. Animal Ark features two children who work together to help animals and solve animal-related mysteries. The books were written by commissioned writers in the UK under Baglio's instruction using the pseudonym Lucy Daniels. Each ghostwriter is named with a 'Special Thanks' on the copyright page.

Using his real name he also wrote the book series The Pet Finders Club, featuring a group of three children who search for peoples lost pets.

Reviews

[Mikie]

The reason why I like this one so much is because it's about an old English sheepdog. Old English sheepdogs are my favorite breed.

[Trevor Bouma]

This was an interesting story about Mandy, a girl who helps at her family's animal clinic and loves animals. When she learns that some puppies are sick and one is deaf, she starts to think something is wrong and tries to figure it out with her friend, James. This was a mystery that made me want to keep reading. It showed how important it is to take care of animals and help them when they're in trouble.

[Mercede]

With James’ quick and clever thinking, it was great reading how the situation was handled. Mandy is the type of person to act before thinking, if not for James. It bothered me when she doesn’t think about the consequences of her actions but that is more of a reason for James to be there and keep Mandy grounded. I would recommend this book.

[Jacqueline]

I love the awareness of the cruelty of dog farms and how it's important to adopt a pet from a sanctuary/humane society rather from a pet shop who likely might have gotten baby animals from unsafe breeding farms.

[Meagan]

sad/good book

[Rena Sherwood]

This is a review of the American Scholastic Ben Baglio edition. It was originally published in the UK by Hodder under the fake author name of Lucy Daniels. The real author was Ingrid Hoare, who wrote many books in the Animal Ark Universe, including Animal Ark Hauntings. The illustrator was Ann Baum, my favorite in the Animal Ark series.

Animal Ark books usually don't have dedications, and when they do, they're rarely for animals. This book was dedicated to an Old English Sheepdog named Hugo, the "wonderful, big puppy" of Hoare's friend Tristan Chapman. I first read this a few months after I had to put my 11 year old Chinese Crested to sleep due to cancer. His name was Hugo.

Some of the best Animal Ark books can be quite disturbing, since they'll shine a light on an animal cruelty issue. In this case, it looks looks at puppy mills. This has been a major problem in America since the 1950s. At the time this book was published in 1999, puppy mills were rare in the UK. The mills are smaller in size, but no less cruel. Puppy mills are now a big problem in Europe, not just the UK and Ireland.

I am at least 40 years older than the target audience, but there were a couple of plot twists that I didn't see coming. I'm not going to go into the scam, since I don't want to spoil it for you, but it was an imaginative and plausible one.

The American editions Americanize UK spellings, punctuation and some vocabulary. It is really odd to read about a book set in England where kids call their female parent Mom instead of Mum. There is also a major role played by the RSPCA ... which is named the SPCA in the American edition. There is no American equivalent to the RSPCA in America. There never was. The ASPCA isn't even close. I think this can really confuse American kids, and it's completely unnecessary. Kids can grasp that things have different names in different countries. It's not a hard concept.

[Tessie Dragon]

Jak já milovala Archu zvířat,Mandy a Jamese a spoustu zvířátek,co se tam objevila.Knížka je od 9 let,je to nádherný dětský příběh plný zvířátek,přátelství a důvěry.Jako malá jsem ji přímo ''žrala'' a přečetla jsem celou sérii. ;)

[Lilly]

Loved this book!

[rooibos_reads Annerie Swart]

I love these books. They're super cute and just what I need after a busy week.

[Lianna Kendig]

(LL)
Another solid story from the Animal Ark series.

[Kelly Chester]

What a great bookb

[Amber Meyer]

Great book, loved how it all worked out.

[Amara]

It was a wonderful book! It was well done and I loved the adorable English Sheepdog puppies.

The basic storyline is: a deaf English Sheepdog puppy comes into the clinic. But it isn't until Mandy finds a sad little English Sheepdog puppy sitting, abandoned, in a puddle, that she begins to suspect the local breeder. Why is one puppy deaf and another found abandoned? That is suspicious.

She and her best friend James go to investigate. At the breeder's house, they find many litters of English Sheepdog puppies, most too young to be without their mothers, needing to be bottle-fed and cared for. Why is the breeder separating them from their mothers? To their surprise, Tracy, the breeder's daughter, tells them that the puppies are not from her dogs. Is she lying? But whose could they be and how is Tracy and her mother ending up with them?

Later, a man shows up at the breeder's place and he forced Tracy and the second time her mother to...read to find out!

The best part was when that man showed up at the breeder's house the second time and James had the brilliant idea to grab his keys so that he could not drive away. And the police showed and...read to the find out! Did the man get away? What was he doing? And again, why were the poor puppies separated so young from their mothers and is Tracy telling the truth they are not her and her mothers' puppies?

[Eunice]

I have borrowed this storybook at the library i think it was a very good book! It thought me to treat my pet with a heart. This is a story about an Old English Sheepdog, One day Emily Hope's father found one deaf,and Mandy suspects that Tracy's mother might be the seller of the puppy, because Tracy's mother was the only person who sells Old English Sheepdogs. Could Tracy's mother be responsible of this deaf puppy?
Well, if you wish to know borrow or buy the book then you will know what happened in the end!

[Lizzy]

Being a judge animal lover, I absolutely adore the Animal Ark series! puppy in a puddle is such a sweet, nostalgic read. I've always loved these books because they really capture that animal loving spirit perfectly. It's a super quick and easy read, and I love that they are standalones you don't need any background from the other books, so you can just jump around and read them in any order.

[Twyla]

My favorite part was when all of the puppies were happy and the person that was being mean and forcing the person to buy puppies was arrested for doing that. The worst part was when the man kept forcing the lady to buy his puppies that were to young to leave there mother. Auryn 11years old

[Tina]

i like the animal ark series cus its about animals and saving them. this is one of their books.

[Vanesah]

the cutiest book ever

[Cws]

JAR4-Bag

[Katie White]

I had this book for as long as i can remember and one day finally desided to read it. I'm glad i did cause it was a cute little puppy story!

[Nicole]

Mandy finds a dog in a parking area, Mandy and James think she was abandoned but maby not.to figure out what happens next you should read this book.

[Katie-Lee]

These books are really good.

[Mariyah]

this book was so good

[Jessie]

Mandy and James think a local breeder is mistreating Old English Sheepdog puppies.

[Holly Vanco]

Cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;)

[Liz]

Took a lot to read these 100 pages, i remember that.

[Sammy]

I was completely obsessed with this series of books when I was a child and my aim was to read every single book. They are a really good children's series.

[Morgen Love]

I read this book about 3 years ago and its one of my all time favorites...even though it's a kids book.

[Jane M]

i luv it

[Alexandra Lindner]

Loved it!!