Budding entrepreneur Winston Turkington starts a dog-walking business for quick cash and mostly to attract girls who can't resist a guy with a dog. As his business takes off, Turk finds himself caught choosing between his canine charges and a girl. Turk is an engaging protagonist, but this book for reluctant readers is marred by wooden dialogue and a predictable plot.

When the eternally lazy Turk reluctantly walks his father's boss's fur ball of a dog, he learns that cute dogs have an advantage-they attract cute girls. Thus is born a new enterprise. Turk starts a dog walking business with his friends doing all the work in exchange for the fringe benefit, and Turk collects most of the profits. Unfortunately things do not work out quite the way Turk expected. Who will walk the unattractive dogs, what happens when the guy no one likes wants to walk dogs, and what about the lovely girl from the locker next door? This very short, very predictable tale is closer to a novella than a novel. The parents in it are portrayed as quite shallow and ultimately as irresponsible as they accused Turk of being in the first place. The book may be easy to present to reluctant readers-physically attractive, short, and a good plot idea-but it is not a must have.-Beth Karpas.