The Dog Heist
Steal the dog? It was a bad idea, but it was the best one they had.
A neglected dog brings two misfits together in this adventure for middle schoolers who love animals and a story where the kids take charge.
For Caleb, September is off to a rough start. His parents have split up, he’s moved to a new town, and—worst of all—he misses his dog. Valery is his new neighbor, but apart from being in the same class, they have nothing in common. Valery is lonely and hurt since her best friend abandoned her for a boy, and she thinks Caleb is just obnoxious. Under normal circumstances, they’d never be friends. But these aren’t normal circumstances.
There’s a hurricane coming, and Valery and Caleb are both worried for Lyra, their neighbor’s terribly neglected dog. None of the adults in their lives will do anything, so they hatch a plan to rescue her themselves, no matter how risky.
Praise & Recognition
Details
Publication Date: September 1, 2026
Reading Age: 9 - 12
Genre: Middle Grade
Product Format: Paperback
Pages: 180
ISBN: 978-1-77260-475-7
Weight: 200
Key Topics
About the Author
Dani Jansen
Dani Jansen is an English and drama teacher who lives in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal. Her writing has appeared in This Magazine, Lunch Ticket, The A3 Review, and Fiction Southeast. Her debut novel, The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life, came out in Fall 2020 and won two Goldie awards. It was also a finalist for the Quebec Writers’ Federation Janet Savage Blachford Prize.
Dani spent her teen years in rural Nova Scotia and attended the University of King’s College in Halifax. She completed her Master’s in English literature from Dalhousie University. Her family still lives in Nova Scotia, where she makes a pilgrimage every year to swim in the Atlantic Ocean.
