Books like Nubs by Brian Dennis

When ten‑year‑old Opal arrives in Naomi, Florida, she discovers friendship, community, and the healing power of a big ugly dog named Winn‑Dixie during her first summer in town.

Taggish the famed canine hero of Jack London’s classic adventure, The Call of the Wild, is uprooted from a comfortable home in California and forced into brutal sled work in the Yukon, where he must confront survival, the call of wilderness, and the pull of his wolf ancestry.

Three devoted pets—two dogs and a Siamese cat—traverse 300 miles across the Canadian wilderness in search of their owners, demonstrating loyalty and endurance amid perilous terrain.

A devoted dog reflects on life, love, and racing while watching his owner, a race car driver, navigate family trials and professional ambition.

A loyal collie named Lassie embarks on a thousand‑mile journey to reunite with her young master, Joe, after being sold amid her family’s hardships.

In war‑torn Basra, Alia Muhammad Baker safeguards a 30,000‑book collection in her library, fighting to protect the community’s knowledge and hope amid the Iraq War.

John Keegan's nonfiction study examines the causes, strategy and consequences of the Iraq War, drawing on exclusive interviews with senior US and British military leaders.

John Crawford's intimate memoir of his time as a soldier in Iraq, chronicling the brutal, terrifying, and heartbreaking truth of soldier life.

This tightly-wound narrative begins with Sgt. Eddie Watson, who falls in love with an Iraqi stray dog his unit named Charlie and ends with a challenging airlift of 26 dogs and two cats from the Red Zone of Bagdad, Iraq through Dubai, Paris, England, and Washington, D.C. to their new homes in the United States where they would be reunited with their soldier buddies. The conduit for all is the SPCA International’s Operation Baghdad Pups program, headed by Terri Crisp, that launches with getting Charlie home and assumes legs thereafter with many other soldiers’ pleas for help, growing publicity and two civilian organizations’ incredible offers to help. “When contemplating the growing number of requests to save dogs and cats befriended by U.S. troops, it was necessary that we take risks and break military rules. After 87 successful missions to Iraq, it is quite clear we made the right decision,” says Crisp. As of March, 261 dogs and 50 cats were shipped from the Middle East to the U.S. Military rules prohibit U.S. forces from rendering assistance, rescuing and/or keeping pets on-post. Being caught can result in dire consequences. Conversely, the psychological salve these once beleaguered animals provide the troops is enormous, and is reflected in the dozens of e-mails Crisp shares with readers. A Marine writes to a shocked Crisp detailing the rationale behind the military regulations: “We are forbidden to provide any kind of assistance to an injured animal we come across. The enemy discovered Americans can be real softies when it comes to animals, especially dogs, so they use that knowledge to their advantage. They have been known to purposely injure a dog, rendering it unable to move, and then they place a booby trap underneath its body. When a kind-hearted soldier sees the animal and goes to help, guess what happens next? Boom.” The success of Operation Baghdad Pups, Crisp emphasizes, is the networking with brave and generous individuals and companies worldwide. On average, it costs SPCA International $4,000 to get an animal out of the Middle East. The engaging narrative flows smoothly and is nicely integrated with powerful e-mails of pleas for help and later emotional thanks from the troops and their relatives stateside. As each incredibly difficult mission evolves twenty seven animals on one FedEx plane, Crisp is quick to credit the teamwork of all involved and the commitment of SPCA International to bring home some of our forces’ best buddies. It’s hard to imagine anything more satisfying than saving a war-zone animal’s life when soldiers who have befriended and harbored it for months want nothing more than to bring it home where it would be safe, loved and cared for, by the soldiers and their families, for the remainder of its life. “No Buddy Left Behind” by Terri Crisp and co-author, Cynthia Hurn is a wonderfully crafted, true story - a heart-wrenching journey accented with a blend of humor, insight and urgency. In the process, the true grit of the animals and their rescuers leaves the reader with a megawatt smile one minute and a tension-filled twinge and tightness the next.

Renni the Rescuer follows a German Shepherd named Renni and his devoted owner as they experience the trials of World War I, serving together on the battlefield.

In 1860s Texas hill country, a boy recounts the trials of a mischievous yellow dog who becomes part of his family's ranch life.

This is the dramatic inside story of elite K9 warriors - who these dogs are, how they are trained, and the extreme missions they undertake to save lives. From detecting explosives to eliminating the bad guys, these powerful dogs are also some of the smartest and highest-skilled working animals on the planet. Mike Ritland's job is to train them. In Navy SEAL Dogs, author Mike Ritland tells how he was a smaller-then-average kid who was often picked on at school, which led him to spend more time with dogs at a young age. After graduating BUD/S training - the toughest military training in the world - to become a SEAL, he was on combat deployment in Iraq when he saw a military working dog in action and instantly know he'd found his true calling. From battlefield action to world heroics, this is Ritland's story of overcoming obstacles and discovering what he loves to do.

Three stories about soldiers in World War I, World War II, and the Vietnam War who were aided by combat dogs.

Recounts the story of a dog named Stubby who served as a mascot to a regiment of World War I soldiers, participating in the war and playing a vital role in boosting the soldiers' morale.

Seventeen‑year‑old Ryan Smithson joins the Army Reserve, is deployed two years later as an engineer in Iraq, and recounts his harrowing tour of duty in this moving personal narrative.

"Tells the remarkable story of Royal Air Force technician Frank Williams and Judy, a purebred pointer, who met in an internment camp during WWII. Judy was a fiercely loyal animal who sensed danger and instinctively mistrusted anyone in enemy uniform. Their relationship deepened throughout their imprisonment. The prisoners suffered severe beatings which Judy would interrupt with her barking. The dog became a beacon for the men, who saw in her survival a flicker of hope for their own. Judy was the war's only canine POW, and when she passed away in 1950, she was buried in her Air Force jacket. Williams would never own another dog. Their story--of an unbreakable bond forged in the worst circumstance--is one of the great undiscovered sagas of World War II"