Dakota Brown is almost 16 years old and an expert at running away. She has already escaped from seven foster homes and is planning to do the same as she’s being taken to the eighth one. As Dakota words it, she’s already experienced a lifetime’s worth of subtraction. What began as a family of four made up of two parents, a brother and Dakota is now only Dakota. One is a lonely number.

So as the perky social worker, Ms. Bean, drives out of Chicago proper en route to Dakota’s next foster home stop, Dakota is already making a list. Making lists is one of her favorite activities for a single reason: lists bring things under her control. In forming her runaway action plan, Dakota lists in numerical order what she’ll do once she arrives at Nice, Illinois, and it all begins with watching the entrance route so she’ll know how to get out just as fast. This escape includes enlisting the help of fellow foster home orphan Neil Ramsey, who promises to help her “get away.”

Little does Dakota realize that surprises await her at the Coolidge farm, beginning with Chester Coolidge (lovingly dubbed Popeye) and Dr. Annie Coolidge (also known as Mom), followed by their birth son Hank, foster son Wes and foster daughter Katharine. On the fast track as usual, Dakota tries to sum up everyone’s role in the “family” and to remain aloof as best she can. But it doesn’t go according to plan (or, in Dakota’s world, list).

Popeye and Annie really do adore each other and prove it by their actions. Hank, Wes and Kat all take part in the working farm by handling the various animals, which includes assorted horses, cats and dogs. Dakota learns some neat tricks about working with horses, especially a frightened and abused one called Blackfire whom she tries to befriend. Enter Winnie the Horse Gentler, who emails Dakota and teaches her about giving the wounded horse what he needs most: love and respect. As Dakota learns the ropes around the Coolidge farm, she falls a few times --- and not from being thrown from a horse. Still, this runaway discovers that sometimes staying put can take more courage and character than splitting…and it’s really the only plan that’s worth listing.

Prolific author Dandi Daley Mackall consistently offers her readers lighthearted, entertaining reading that also involves some nifty educational tidbits. RUNAWAY is a sure start to a great ride with Dakota and the Coolidge gang.

    --- Reviewed by Michele Howe

With only a few days left before he’s allowed to visit his soon-to-be released mom from rehabilitation for a drug problem, Wes is counting the days. And he means to make each one count by diligently training his four out-of-control dogs before he leaves the Coolidge farm for good.

Just when Wes’s excitement cannot be contained, Ms. Bean, the social worker, shows up with the terrible news that Wes’s mom checked herself out of rehab only days before her release date and was later picked up for using drugs. His anger, which is always mirrored by his dog Rex’s barking, reaches an all-time high as he tries to handle this newest disappointment. All the plans he had been making were for nothing. No future, no hope, but lots of rage pour through Wes’s heart and mind. As he tries to come to grips with his mom’s latest lapse, Popeye agrees to take Wes to visit her in jail. Once they arrive and wait, Wes is told he cannot see her because she already has another visitor and has chosen him over Wes. Like fuel to a fire, Wes’s anger becomes out of control. The Coolidge family tries to talk, pray and love him past his pain.

When it feels like nothing will ever matter again, Wes faces the worst truth of all --- that his mom has rejected him to be with a man who beat her. The Coolidges, always there with their ready and steady love, find a way to reach into Wes’s wounded soul, and he releases the bitterness that had been festering inside. Making an even more courageous choice, Wes asks to be allowed to try to visit his mom yet again, and revenge is no longer on his mind.

Mackall does a super job at meshing together some comedy, drama and spiritual instruction without it coming across as heavy-handed. At the close of MAD DOG, she offers her young readers specific tips on finding the perfect pet for their family and also includes pet adoption and rescue organizations.

    --- Reviewed by Michele Howe