A stray blue heeler dog shows she’s got game when she finds happy owners for herself and her new puppy. Beloved Martin and his protégé Sampson (I Pledge Allegiance, p. 1394, etc.) team up again with a warm but surprisingly unsentimental and realistic tale about a dog. Diamond strays into Jennifer’s life and quickly out again when left in the yard during a storm. Finding her way to a golf course, she joins two boys out golfing with their father, and more or less adopts them. Happy times are ahead for newly renamed Caddie and the boys until she grows fat and runs off again. But they find she left for a purpose as she has birthed a litter of five pups. When adoption time comes, lo and behold, Jennifer reappears to claim her own blue heeler again, but only after Caddie chooses between homes. The text has the feel of verisimilitude, told as if the authors heard it from a canine during a visit to the Nineteenth Hole one day after their own round of golf. Cooper’s consistently stunning illustrations, with beautiful color, softened effects, and emotionally charged characters (even the animals) perfectly complete the warm and fuzzy circle of a dog’s life. (Picture book. 4-8)
