BUZZARD BREATH

Will Winkle wants a dog, and not just any dog. He is in search of a special purebred dog; before he finds it, however, he meets General, a regular old German shepherd. He is supposed to be a guard dog, but is actually ``sugar on a stick'' with kids; they nickname him ``Buzzard Breath.'' When the dog ends up in a shelter, Will takes him home, temporarily, until another family can be found. A case of mistaken identity in a brutal attack on a toddler sends Buzzard Breath back to the shelter's death row, until Will proves his innocence and takes him home for good. Crisp's first book conveys the importance of love over pedigree, and subtly urges adoption from a shelter; an affection for all things dog shines through on every page. Unfortunately, some scenesdogfights, the toddler attack, and Buzz's brush with deathare rather graphic, and may dismay the very readers for whom dog stories hold such attraction. The occasional insertion of the dog's point of view is also jarring. (Fiction. 8-12)