Bo is a young border collie sheep dog, he's Dad's dog and he's untrained. At the start of the story Bo is injured and not allowed to run around. Jack's gruff father has made that clear. Jack's life changes dramatically when Dad walks off the farm and his mum must try to make the farm work on her own, with the help of Jack and his younger brother. This leaves Bo in the care of Jack - something he wanted, but not like this. When Jack lets Bo out, the dog goes crazy, causing their neighbour to insist that the dog be taken somewhere where he can be trained properly. Jack is determined to get Bo back and prove to his Dad that he can train him.
Author description
Winner of the Tom Fitzgibbon Award with her title Shreve's Promise, Motueka-based author Jillian knows the teen market well, and researches her writing meticulously. For this title she drew on her own experience running a goat farm when her husband left to live overseas. However, she also researched the detail by completing a woman?s heavy trade course, which included a week on a farm with a woman farmer.