Tommy’s class­mates tease him about his qui­et voice and his Israeli accent. He doesn’t like read­ing to the class, and stays by him­self at recess. One day, Offi­cer Sweeney and his police dog, Sam­son, pay a vis­it to Tommy’s class. Tom­my instant­ly feels comfort­able with Sam­son, who reminds him of his dog, who had to stay in Israel. When Sam­son smells some­thing inter­est­ing and begins bark­ing, only Tom­my can fig­ure out how to qui­et him. It turns out that Sam­son was trained in Israel and only obeys com­mands in Hebrew. An inter­est­ing deal is struck; Tom­my will teach Offi­cer Sweeney the Hebrew he needs to give Sam­son his com­mands, and Offi­cer Sweeney will help Tom­my learn to speak Eng­lish with more confidence.

Jacque­line Dem­bar Greene’s heartwarm­ing sto­ry shows how friend­ships begin and Deb­o­rah Melmon’s illus­tra­tions evoke the stress­es and tri­umphs of a class­room, the joy­ful chaos of a play­ground, and the bus­tle of a city street. Vir­tu­al­ly all chil­dren will be able to relate to Tommy’s inse­cu­ri­ty in some way. This book, based loose­ly on a true sto­ry, pro­vides a non-preachy start­ing point for a vari­ety of dis­cus­sions about com­pas­sion, toler­ance, and friend­ship. High­ly rec­om­mend­ed for ages 4 – 8.