Where the Trail Grows Faint

by Lynne Hugo

Ostensibly a book about therapy dogs, this thoughtful work also looks at the shortcomings of nursing-home life. Dog lovers will enjoy the antics of Hugo's chocolate Lab, who is a great icebreaker at a home, and will learn that dogs needn't be perfectly behaved to be good in their role (far from it, in this case). Readers also learn that residents too often can be neglected by family, even those who live nearby, and that the effects of this neglect are huge in already severely circumscribed lives. Teens volunteering, or contemplating it, at nursing homes and hospitals, as well as social-studies students, will get a great deal out of this sympathetic volume and will be much more understanding and able to help residents/patients in practical but small ways.