Touching and amusing in equal measure, W. Bruce Cameron's A Dog's Purpose examines the love shared by canines and their people from the canine's point of view. Cameron's puppy protagonist takes readers on a journey through his life—or rather, lives, because this very special dog lives and dies several times, searching always for his life's purpose.

Starting off as a pup in a stray's litter, the young dog has his first interaction with humans in a dog hoarder's yard. There he learns to love people, but after Animal Control arrives, he suffers the sad fate of dogs deemed "unadoptable." After being euthanized, he awakes in a new litter with a new life ahead of him, becoming Bailey, the beloved pet of eight-year-old Ethan. Embarking on the most pivotal period of his existence, he learns the satisfaction of being a "good dog" and experiences the most pure, joyful relationship he will have with a human. Bailey not only adores Ethan, he risks his life to protect him, and after years of devotion to his boy, he is sure he has fulfilled his purpose. But when he awakes again in a new—female—canine body, she finds that her journey is not yet finished, and she has more to learn than she realized.

Cameron's exploration of the world through the eyes of a dog is clever in its humorous touches—Bailey's conclusions that cats cannot be trusted and horses are completely unreliable are hilarious—and poignant in its depiction of a dog's innate desire to please humans. The novel is bound to make readers reflect fondly on pets from their pasts, but the book's greater triumph may lie in changing the way readers think about their current pets.

Having read Cameron's wonderful book, I'm seeing my little Chloe (a ferret) in the more pure, equal way I looked at animals when I was a child, rather than in the detached fashion that I'm sad to realize has become my habit as an adult. What a gift. A Dog's Purpose is a beautiful celebration of our four-footed friends' big hearts.

Copyright 2010 BookPage Reviews.

One of the toughest elements of dog books for readers and writers is that dogs have a far shorter life span than their human companions. Cameron (8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter) handles this situation by following his canine protagonist through several lifetimes. Bailey, as he is called in one incarnation, experiences the whole range of lives available to dogs in contemporary America, from puppy-mill survivor to loving family pet to police dog to stray. Through his many lives, Bailey searches for his purpose, his reason for living and living again. Bailey's courage and determination are tested as he travels towards his goal. VERDICT By turns funny, heartwarming, and touching without being overly sentimental, Cameron's novel successfully illuminates the breadth of the American dogscape.

Another dog book? You bet. And since Cameron's 2010 A Dog's Purpose was on the best sellers lists for nearly five months in hardcover and remains on the best sellers lists in paperback, you can also bet that this meditation on how dogs take care of us will be big.

The New York Times best-selling author of A Dog's Purpose (look for the film) returns with adorable pit bull puppy Bella, who treks 400 miles back to Lucas Ray after having to be fostered out.

A tail-wagging three hanky boo-hooer, this delightful fiction debut by newspaper columnist Cameron (8 Simple Rules for Marrying My Daughter) proposes that a dog's purpose might entail being reborn several times. Told in a touching, doggy first-person, this unabashedly sentimental tale introduces Toby, who's rescued by a woman without a license for her rescue operation, so, sadly, Toby ends up euthanized. He's reborn in a puppy mill and after almost dying while left in a hot car, he's saved again by a woman, and he becomes Bailey, a beloved golden retriever, who finds happiness and many adventures. His next intense incarnation is as Ellie, a female German shepherd, a heroic search and rescue dog. But the true purpose of this dog's life doesn't become totally clear until his reincarnation as Buddy, a black Lab. A book for all age groups who admire canine courage, Cameron also successfully captures the essence of a dog's amazing capacity to love and protect. And happily, unlike Marley, this dog stays around for the long haul. (July)

In this utterly charming and often heartbreaking follow-up to A Dog's Purpose, Buddy, a faithful dog who, through numerous reincarnations has valiantly protected the lives of his humans, narrates the story of his relationship with Clarity June. Clarity's mother is negligent, so Buddy has his work cut out for him, and Clarity, while still a toddler, has already been saved from drowning, poisoning, and horse trampling when she and her mother, Gloria, leave the safety of Clarity's paternal grandmother's home for a series of increasingly bad situations. After Buddy's life ends, the pup is reborn as Molly and reunited with Clarity, now a troubled teenager called CJ with multiple insecurities and problems. CJ's self-destructive tendencies and carelessness send Molly to the great beyond, but the canine comes back, first as Max and then as Toby, each time affecting CJ's life in positive ways. Ultimately, the good dog, after years of service, learns the reward given to devoted angels masquerading as pets. Robert Frost said, "no tears in the writer, no tears in the reader"; if this is true, then Cameron must have wept buckets. Readers will devour this wonderful story and cry from beginning to end. Sweet and heartfelt, Cameron likely has another bestseller on his hands. (May)