TANGO

Tango, a Yorkshire terrier, has grown up literally in the lap of luxury, complete with sterling-silver collar and pearl-studded leash. But when his mistress’s yacht goes down in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, he washes ashore on Prince Edward Island, sans collar and I.D., where he is mistaken for a rat in a lobster trap. There his fortunes become entwined with three other lonely folk: curmudgeonly widow Augusta, on-the-run orphan McKenna and Beau, an aging fox who has taken a protective interest in McKenna. Complicating the fairly predictable can-all-the-lonely-souls-learn-to-trust-each-other-and-find-happiness plot is Tango’s naked desire to return home and the presence of a pack of truly vicious cats and an insane, murderous rat. Debut author Beha does a creditable job creating the two societies, human and animal, and mediating Tango’s travels between them; she freshens her story with precisely drawn characters—even Malachi the rat emerges fully fleshed. Tango is a winning protagonist, a noble soul in a diminutive body. Although there are few real surprises, readers will enjoy this beguiling, delicately told tale, which has a heart as big as its hero’s. (Fantasy. 8-12)