Santa Paws, Our Hero

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Synopsis

All of Santa Paws's past rescues have turned him into a celebrity, not just in Oceanport, the small hometown of his family, the Callahans, but all across the country. His appearances at shopping malls and children's hospitals are in high demand, and the Callahans must keep a tight reign on the invitations to avoid exploiting their famous and talented canine. With Christmas upon them once again, Santa Paws makes a few rescues near home, after which the family decides to head for Boston for the holidays, while hoping for a less eventful season. But with Santa Paws around, there's never a dull moment.

Even though the big city is unfamiliar to him, Santa Paws manages to first locate a missing little girl and later save a teenage boy who's fallen into a frozen pond. Gregory ends up helping with the latter rescue, and after nearly freezing to death, he's taken to the hospital, only to find out that his beloved dog went missing while being transported to a veterinary clinic. Being in an unfamiliar city with people he doesn't know makes Santa Paws think of the time he was kidnapped by thieves, which leads to him running away from the EMTs who are trying to help him. He'll have his work cut out for him finding his way back to the Callahans, but he might just manage to save a few more people along the way.

Review

Santa Paws, Our Hero is the fifth book in Nicholas Edwards's Santa Paws middle-grade, holiday book series. In this one, out intrepid canine hero is back at it once more. It's almost Christmas, the time when Santa Paws seems to be the most busy helping people in trouble. After a few heroic saves in his small hometown of Oceanport, the Callahan family decides to spend Christmas with Aunt Emily's parents in Boston. Being in the big city is much different than they're used to, but there's lots to do during the holiday season... and lots of people for Santa Paws to save. First he rescues a lost little girl. Then on Christmas Eve, Gregory and Patricia go on a walk with Emily's parents and the dogs. They come upon the scene of a teenage boy who's fallen into a frozen pond in the Public Garden. Santa Paws jumps into action to save the boy, but when he starts to falter, Gregory gets in on the action, too. All is well in the end, but both Gregory and Santa Paws are taken to very different emergency rooms to be checked out afterward. Without any of his family with him, Santa Paws becomes uncertain of the paramedics' motives, and remembering his ordeal with the kidnappers just a couple of years before, he worries about where they're taking him. He escapes into the big city and has his work cut out for him, finding his way back to the Callahans. But he wouldn't be Santa Paws if he didn't make a few more heroic saves along the way.

Each one of the books in the Santa Paws series has been a lot of fun to read. Each year, Santa Paws gets up to new and interesting adventures. At this point, he's made so many fearless rescues that he's become famous, getting invitations to various events and being recognized by people, not only in Oceanport, but all over the country. I like that the Callahan family keeps its real, though, and are careful not to exploit their celebrity dog. Gregory and Patricia are growing up, too. They're in the ninth and tenth grades respectively. The family cats, Evelyn and Abigail, still play roles as well. In this installment, Santa Paws makes his usual assortment of rounds to help people throughout the Christmas season, and even though the family spends most of the holiday away from home, he still has the innate instinct to help out. Of course, the situation following the big save is worrisome to the dog who can't help recalling his own dognapping in a previous book, which leads to more excitement and Santa Paws needing to find his family again. There's some similarity between these books, with them always being about Santa Paws's heroic exploits throughout the holiday season, so I'm glad that I've been stretching them out and just reading one each year. However, there's always something new and different as well to make things more interesting, so I still can't help enjoying each book. The stories are all about spreading Christmas cheer and helping out those in need, which is a great message for kids, and I can't imagine that they wouldn't be entertained by the dog's adventures, as there's never a dull moment with Santa Paws around.

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Nicholas Edwards aka Ellen Emerson White