For fans of Balto and other real-life dog stories, here's a heavily illustrated middle-grade novel about a canine movie star of the 1920s, dramatically told in both words and pictures by an acclaimed author and a Caldecott Medal-winning illustrator.
When movie director Larry Trimble travels to Berlin searching for his next big star--a dog!--he finds Etzel, a fierce, highly trained three-year-old German shepherd police dog. Larry sees past the snarls and growls and brings Etzel back to Hollywood, where he is renamed Strongheart. Along with screenwriter Jane Murfin, Larry grooms his protégé to be a star of the silver screen--and he succeeds, starting with Strongheart's first film, The Love Master, which is released in 1921. Strongheart is soon joined by a leading lady, a German shepherd named Lady Julie, and becomes a sensation.
Touching, charming, playful, and based on real events, this moving tale by Candace Fleming and illustrated by Eric Rohmann tells all about "the wonder dog" who took America by storm.
A NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY BEST BOOK OF 2018
A CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY BEST BOOK OF 2018

Candace Fleming is the prolific author of countless books, including The Family Romanov, a Robert F. Sibert Honor Book and the recipient of both the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Award for Young Adult Literature; The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh, receipient of the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction and which received five starred reviews; Amelia Lost, which received four starred reviews; and most recently Murder Among Friends, which received five starred reviews. She has teamed up with illustrator Eric Rohmann for several acclaimed picture books including Oh, No! which received three starred reviews, and Honeybee, which received seven starred reviews and the Robert F. Sibert Medal. Her books have appeard on countless Best of the Year lists. Candace lives outside of Chicago.
Eric Rohmann is the author/illustrator of the Caldecott Medal-winning My Friend Rabbit and the Caldecott Honor Book Time Flies. He also illustrated Candace Fleming's Giant Squid which received three starred reviews, Honeybee, which received the Robert F. Sibert Medal. The New York Times has called his work "positively riveting." Eric lives outside of Chicago.