The Winner's Walk

by Nancy Ruth Patterson

114 pages with photographes by Thomas F. Yezerski, reading 5

Genres: Childrens, Middle Grade, Animals, Fiction, Kids, Juvenile

Paperback

First published September 5, 2006

Reviews

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance]

Case is the only one in his family who has no special talent, but Case has plans to change that. He enters a talent show, a science fair, and a horse show, but fails to make a mark in any events. He is about to give up when he finds a dog, a remarkable dog, and the dog helps Case find his own special talents as a dog trainer as well as his special talent of sharing.

[Natalia]

Note to self: I have picked this book up from the library shelf just because picture had a dog and a boy on it. I wanted to see if my son would enjoy it. I have read about a half of it and decided it was not interesting enough to read to my son. It was not bad but not compelling enough for me to finish it.

[Candice]

What a sweet book. How would you feel if you lived in a household of winners but no matter how hard you tried you couldn’t win? That’s how Case feels, like he can’t live up to his sister Quinn’s shadow. His mom is an actress and not home often, and he just wants to please her. Until a stray dog he names Noah wanders into his life. Then, he finds success in a way he didn’t originally consider.

[Sunny Kim]

This book is a really good book and I like the book because it has a golden retriver in the book and I love dogs . I liked the parts of the race and when he finds the dog.

[Jais]

The best book ever i love it Thanks to Nancy Ruth Patterson

[Matthew Winner]

YES for our library.

A near-perfect read! I was very put-off by the cover of the book. The cartoon picture of a boy and his dog screams easy ready, but this book had a great story with characters we can care about and circumstances not necessarily common to children's stories.

In short, a boy struggles to find what he's good at. His mom is a reknowned singer. His father is a successful horse trainer. His sister seems to be perfect at everything she does. But our protagonist just can't seem to find something that works for him... until finding a stray, neglected dog with an uncanny ability to learn tricks.

Definitely a good pick!

[Luminity]

Case is the only one in his family who has no special talent, but Case has plans to change that. He enters a talent show, a science fair, and a horse show, but fails to make a mark in any events. He is about to give up when he finds a dog, a remarkable dog, and the dog helps Case find his own special talents as a dog trainer as well as his special talent of sharing.

You might like this book you might not but I recommend this book




Recommended Book

[Debby]

It's an easy read. The plot seemed a little contrived and jumped quickly forward in time which might be confusing to young children. Coming from a background in dog agility, the protagonist's ability to compete on a course with obstacles the dog has never had experience navigating and win first place may send the message that training a dog and being successful in dog agility is easy. The selflessness of the protagonist at the end is most likely why this book made it on the 2008-09 Texas Bluebonnet list.

[Haley]

Texas Bluebonnet for the '08-'09 school year. Case Callahan does not feel like he is a part of his talented family. His mother is a successful actress, his father is a champion horse trainer, and his sister is star swimmer. Although he tries real hard to find his talent including juggling at the school talent show and his efforts towards his science fair project, it's when he's not looking for his talent that he finally finds it. Case has a knack for training dogs.

[Kit]

Don't bother with this one, which reads like an early draft of a novel rather than a finished one. We never really find out much about any of the characters, and the plot takes a long time to get off the ground.

[Zonia]

Good read aloud.

[stillme]

Texas Bluebonnet Nominee 2008-2009

[Dianna]

This is one of the Virginia Reader's Choice books. I read it outloud to my class, and they LOVED it! We are using the VRC books for our book discussions on Blackboard!

[Maggie]

I am a dog lover and this book was surely for me.

[Reagan]

good book

[Melissa]

I thought this was a pretty strong book with a male protagonist targeted at 3rd or 4th graders. Easy to recommend and may appeal to dog lovers espescially.

[Clara]

Bluebonnet book

[Kennedy]

This book really taught me a lot about guide dogs! :)

[Rebecca]

A sweet book about learning to do the right thing, even when it is hard. I can see why my boys love it!

[Yihan.wang]

fun

[Hillvan]

This made 2nd grader cry.

[Jazli Lopez]

I liked this book, and I have tried training a dog like Case did before.

[Catherine]

My daughter and I enjoyed this book.

[Kimberly]

Even though Case loves his newfound dog, he realizes that giving is better than receiving.