These seven books are for intermediate and/or middle-school animal lovers, including stories starring animals and stories of friendship across species. For more, see the Animals subject tag in the Guide/Reviews Database.

The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest
by Aubrey Hartman
Intermediate    Little, Brown    320 pp.
2/25    9780316575720    $17.99
e-book ed.  9780316575744    $9.99

Clare the fox lives, so to speak, in Deadwood Forest: “Like Clare, the forest was not quite dead but not quite alive.” He struggles with self-consciousness about his mangled ear and missing eye (the result of the accident that sent him to the forest), but for the most part follows a quiet routine as the Afterlife’s Usher of souls, tending his mushroom garden, reading books scavenged from Deadwood Dump, and making tea for himself and the wandering animal souls that knock on his cottage door. Mostly, the souls are easy to guide into one of the Afterlife’s four realms: Peace, Pleasure, Progress, or Pain. Then badger Gingersnipes, who doesn’t appear to belong to any realm, arrives just as Clare hears of an ominous premonition. Clare embarks on a quest to understand the meaning of the premonition and help Gingersnipes find her way. He engages in some surprising (to him) self-reflection and learns about love — for himself and others — as he travels through neighboring forests with his companion. Between chapters, detailed black-and-white drawings (by Marcin Minor) reminiscent of woodcuts highlight key characters and scenes to come. Though some of the book’s messages are a bit on the nose, ultimately the dry humor, an amusingly intrusive narrator, and a touch of nostalgia intertwine to create an endearingly strange snapshot of a cottage-core world caught between life, death, and the afterlife. MONICA DE LOS REYES

Answers to Dog
by Pete Hautman
Middle School    Candlewick    240 pp.
10/24    9781536234886    $18.99
e-book ed.  9781536240061    $18.99

Two lonely souls — one human, one canine — find home in each other in Hautman’s (The Rat Queen, rev. 11/22, and others) latest novel. Eighth grader Evan Dunn is known for being a bit gloomy. “You’re such a sad sack,” a friend asserts. “You think things are going to be bad all the time.” Evan’s world shifts when a mysterious white dog, later identified as Samarkand, starts appearing daily in his driveway. Eventually, Samarkand leads Evan to the rundown and mismanaged kennel from which he escaped; Hautman doesn’t shy away from describing the abuse inflicted on the dogs living on the property. When an accident sends the kennel’s owner to the hospital, Evan finds himself, alongside new friend Hana, responsible for the dogs left behind. Alternating between Evan’s and the dog’s perspectives, the narrative follows the pair as they learn to trust each other and discover new joy and meaning in their lives. Evan and Hana’s compassion, as well as Samarkand’s endless tail-wagging, inspire hope for dog lovers and all readers. HILL SAXTON

The City of Lost Cats
by Tanya Lloyd Kyi
Intermediate    Tundra    288 pp.
3/25    9781774882108    $17.99
e-book ed.  9781774882115    $10.99

Kyi offers a timely tale, told from a variety of intersecting perspectives, that blends heart and humor with sharp social insight. Fiona is a determined twelve-year-old who’s searching for her capital-d Destiny two years after the death of her parents. On the first day of summer vacation, she stumbles upon The City, a condemned mansion sheltering a ragtag community of lost cats. There she meets a brave, spunky calico trying to prove herself, a pompous black-and-white tomcat who considers The City his domain, and a shabby Maine Coon who brings goodwill — often in the form of a gift from the hunt — to the unusual home. Kyi deftly explores issues such as community, belonging, and housing insecurity as Fiona sets out to turn The City into an official cat refuge. The story’s structure — plus the incorporation of news bulletins, whimsical commentary in verse, and community calls to action — makes it an irresistible read for cat lovers. Fiona’s interactions with her preoccupied guardian Aunt Tanis, the town’s clever librarians, and an unexpected new friend offer a layered portrait of a girl discovering her voice in a noisy world; readers will likely find her wishes for independence and connection deeply relatable. ALICIA ROGERS

The Trouble with Sunshine
by Yamile Saied Méndez
Middle School    Scholastic    272 pp.
3/25    9781546122746    $19.99
e-book ed.  9781546122760    $19.99

Thirteen-year-old Dorani’s vibrant life in Miami is destroyed after her mother’s sudden death from a heart attack. Her famous father is as absent as ever, so Dorani is sent to live with her mother’s estranged sister, Tía Ivette, who is more accustomed to rehabilitating horses than raising grieving teens. Her aunt’s reticent nature and the claustrophobia of her landlocked Wyoming ranch are hard on Dorani. However, caring adults, the continued presence of Puerto Rican–Argentinian traditions such as Three Kings Day, and a new diverse friend group at school help her acclimate to her new life. Méndez grants Dorani complex bereavement: she feels sociable, humorous, and creative as frequently as she feels homesick, heartbroken, and guilty. Tía Ivette’s hippotherapy techniques allow Dorani to help a mare named Sunshine overcome an injury; caring for Sunshine provides refuge from her own trauma. While Dorani’s unexpected “horse girl” phase brings her closer to Ivette, who is burdened by unresolved conflict with her late sister, it’s ultimately their discovery of a shared sense of social justice that cements their bond. Méndez doesn’t depict the process of healing from loss as effortless or enjoyable but rather as a necessity that’s eased by community. “It’s like taking medicine,” Ivette tells Dorani. “It might taste horrible, but in the end, it’s exactly what you need.” EMMA SHACOCHIS

A Wolf Called Fire [Voice of the Wilderness]
by Rosanne Parry; illus. by Mónica Armiño
Intermediate    Greenwillow    256 pp.
2/25    9780063415133    $18.99
e-book ed.  9780063415164    $9.99

This companion volume to A Wolf Called Wander gives Warm, the beloved wolf brother of Swift, his own voice and tale. Warm is small and gentle, a watcher by nature and an unlikely hero for a survival story, but, as his wise mother maintains, “Big is not the only good thing for a wolf to be.” In the opening chapters we follow Warm in his first year, and Parry sticks closely to realistic wolf behavior and biology, creating a plain and rhythmical language that balances the familiar and the strange. Warm says of his siblings in the den, “I know them all by sound and smell and their lifebeats are always near me.” When the family is attacked by a hostile wolf pack and Warm must learn to rely on his own resources, the tone of the narrative changes, becoming more fablelike, a story in which our own human dilemmas are all too familiar. Warm’s pack has all the usual family squabbles, but they survive by cooperation. The hostile pack is strictly hierarchical, with pack leaders maintaining their positions through intimidation and cruelty. A suspenseful, dramatic plot spins above the big grounding question of how we can survive and live with one another with respect and consideration. Dynamic illustrations along with extensive back matter (including essays on wolf biology, animal tracks, forest ecology, and youth climate activism) make for an appealing presentation. SARAH ELLIS

Dog Trouble
by Kristin Varner; illus. by the author
Intermediate, Middle School    First Second    304 pp.
10/24    9781250225900    $22.99
Paper ed.  9781250225917    $14.99
e-book ed.  9781250406781    $9.99

After an uncharacteristic lapse in judgment with his friends (they skateboarded in an abandoned warehouse and broke the windows), middle schooler Ash must spend his summer with his father, stepmother, and stepsister on a small island in the Pacific Northwest. There he’ll be doing community service at the island’s animal shelter, where his mother hopes he will learn some responsibility. Overcoming some reluctance, Ash soon takes to walking and caring for the shelter’s dogs. Life at his father’s home is more of a struggle as Ash must adjust to Dad’s new family, including being an older brother, and to the “isolating and boring” island. Varner’s (Horse Trouble) graphic-novel storytelling is well paced and compelling, appropriately lingering on emotionally heavy scenes (including the death of a shelter dog) where she allows the art to carry the narrative. Skillful mixed-media cartooning employs limited color palettes to confidently convey Ash’s energetic skateboarding and big emotional swings, along with a parade of adorable canines. Chapter openers give quick facts on a dog breed readers will encounter in that chapter. A tender story of friendship (human and animal), family, and growing into oneself. ERIC CARPENTER

Bad Badger
by Maryrose Wood; illus. by Giulia Ghigini
Intermediate    Union Square    181 pp.
2/25    9781454953456    $18.99
Paper ed.  9781454953463    $9.99
e-book ed.  9781454953470    $8.99

Septimus is a badger undergoing an identity crisis. Unlike forest badgers, he doesn’t live in a den but instead in a cozy, tidy seaside cottage where he enjoys opera and collects shells. Solitary, thoughtful, kind, and courtly, he certainly shares some literary DNA with Badger from The Wind in the Willows, but this badger lacks community. Shy and tentative, but aware that he needs connection, Septimus takes an unusual approach to making a friend by inviting a seagull to share tea, conversation, and some interesting outings. Their differences make for challenges, especially as Gully has only one word — “caw” — but their friendship seems to be working until Gully suddenly disappears. When a couple of tough-talking snail detectives decline to take the case, Septimus falls into despair. A flock of gulls provides the answer: Gully is nesting. Will impending parenthood threaten the warm but delicate relationship between badger and gull? It’s all witty, absurdist, mannered, and gently tongue-in-cheek — The Ugly Duckling with a dash of La Traviata. Self-actualization is the theme, but it never weighs down this confection. Deadpan full-page pencil illustrations, beautifully composed, support and expand the text’s particular flavor of elegance, gracious living, and wry humor. SARAH ELLIS

From the June 2025 issue of Notes from the Horn Book.