001Hey there boys and girls. This is Dr. Amy Blake Lewis, superintendent for Henry County Public Schools, and I am super excited to be kicking off our summer book, Dog Town by Katherine Applegate and Jennifer Cheleno. Now, when I start a book, I always like to look at the cover first. And what I notice on this cover is I see a real dog, but I also see what looks like another dog, but doesn't look exactly real to me. So, I'm really anxious to jump in and get started. Come on and read it with me. Chapter 1, threelegged dog. I know what you're thinking. That poor dog only has three legs. But don't go there. It's not that bad. Okay, so I'm not American Kennel Club material. Big deal. My eyes are sharp, my nose is wet,
002my coat puppy soft, and the white patch over my eye. It's a charmer. I don't mind saying, "My name is Chance. I'm pleased to meet you." Chapter 2. Chance. Something else about me. I think about things more than your average pooch. While other dogs are chasing sticks and squirrels, I sit back and appraise the situation. When you hop everywhere you go, each trip takes time. So, you think about where you're heading and why. Also, three is a lucky number. Three acts in a play, three legs in a stool, three times a charm, and all of that. And since management at Dog Town plays a lot of poker, being lucky is pretty darn lucky. Of course, I wasn't lucky when I lost my leg, but that's a story I don't like to tell. H I wonder
003if he'll ever tell us that story about how he lost his leg. Chapter 3. A place for homeless dogs. Dog Town is a shelter, a place for homeless dogs. The dogs of Dog Town are as fancy as you'll find anywhere. Collies and corgis, sharpes and sheep dogs, oodles of schnoodles, poodles and labradoodles, plus plenty of muts like me. Do you guys know what a mut is? That's just a dog who's got a lot of different breeds in him. Kind of mixed breed. And then there are the dogs who aren't dogs at all because they're made entirely of metal. Ever petted a stapler, hugged a toaster, cuddled a bag of doorork knobs? Then you know what it's like to have a robot dog. No fun at all. Why were metal dogs at Dog Town in the
004first place? That's the question. Wow. I'm really wondering what's going to happen in this story. Chapter 4. Dog Town 2.0. It was management's idea. Dog Town 2.0 was a gimmick, a publicity stunt. People loved seeing real dogs roughousing with robot dogs, tussling and tugofwaring, sniffing hind ends, or curled up together to rest and recharge. Newspapers wrote articles. Videos went viral. The evening news ran the story two days in a row. People came to Dog Town in droves. And chapter five, the boss. Unfortunately, a lot of the folks who visited Dog Town 2.0 went home with robot dogs. Oh, the excuses they had. They were clean freaks. They were cat people. They were allergic. They didn't like dogs who pooped. That's when the hostility between the real dogs, the flesh and bloods, and the metal dogs
005began. But Dog Town 2.0 created so much foot traffic that real dog adoptions increased, too. At least that's what management said. And she's the boss, right? Wow, guys. I have to stop here at chapter five and turn this over to some other teachers and and principles who are reading chapters for you, too. But I look forward to finishing this book because I want to see exactly what happens with Dog Town 2.0. And I'm really curious to know how a metal dog and a real dog can get along with each other. I hope you check back all through the summer and get this book read with us together. Have a great one, guys. See you soon.