Nando by McCall Hoyle

Best Friends Dog Tales No. 4
Shad­ow Moun­tain, 2026

Junior Library Guild Gold Standard
signed books 

Nando

Nan­do may have start­ed life as the runt of the lit­ter, but he’s grown into a loy­al, hard­work­ing bor­der col­lie that takes his job — and his fam­i­ly — seri­ous­ly. He believes that the only way to keep his place on the farm and in the heart of his human, Esper­an­za, is to main­tain per­fec­tion in all his respon­si­bil­i­ties — and noth­ing less.

But when a trop­i­cal storm turns the creek by the farm into a rag­ing riv­er and scat­ters Cloe, Nan­do’s favorite young human; Stel­la, a friend­ly bea­gle; Oscar, the far­m’s annoy­ing cat; and Nan­do him­self, Nan­do learns the hard truth: He can’t con­trol everything.

Strand­ed far from home, Nan­do is res­cued by Levi, a boy with a brave heart and a gift for see­ing good in oth­ers, who was also dis­placed by the storm. Nan­do and Levi are both try­ing to get back home, but when Levi leash­es Nan­do, he leaves the inde­pen­dent herd­ing dog with lit­tle choice but to stick with him. As they face ris­ing waters, dan­ger­ous ter­rain, and the uncer­tain­ty of find­ing their way back, Levi offers Nan­do courage, friend­ship, and love, teach­ing Nan­do that he does­n’t have to be per­fect to be loved and accepted.

Honors and Recognition

  • Junior Library Guild Gold Selection

Sign up for my occasional newsletter!