Sam Angus is an outstanding writer for young adults. Her language has a touch of poetry but is never flowery, and always sears right to the heart of the moment for her characters. She touches on the overlooked themes of the World Wars in her books - animal heroes as well as the soldiers enlisted from the countries of Britain's Colonial Empire, and the far-reaching effects of the war on their peoples.

In 'Soldier Dog', Stanley, only 14, has been left at home with his aging father, whose grief for the loss of Stanley's mother and then his brother, who has gone to war, have changed him and made him an impossible man to live with. When he thinks his father has drowned his dog, his only friend, Stanley runs away from home and enlists in the naive hope that he will find his brother, Tom, on the front. He trains as a messenger dog keeper and, before long, finds himself in the trenches. The friends he makes, his love and grief for the dogs he keeps, and his quest to be reunited with his family, drive the story forward to its - thankfully tear-jerkingly joyful - conclusion, not without heartstopping moments of peril and tragedy along the way.

Sam Angus's imagining of trench warfare makes this an excellent choice for teachers to use to enrich history curriculum - but I would recommend this to any teen, and any adult too! It has some of the grittiness and realism of 'Birdsong', but is far more appropriate for young readers - I'd take this over Sebastian Faulks anyday! Don't be put off thinking this is a book for dog lovers only - I am absolutely not one, but Sam Angus is (she apparently got into trouble at Cambridge for secretly keeping a dog in her college room which she smuggled out for walks in a laundry basket!) and her passion and knowledge are infectious. This is, ultimately, a superbly written, very human story of love, loss, and redemption - one not to miss.