by Sheryl Wall

Logan’s Secret is a middle school age children’s book about a rescued Greyhound told from his perspective–check out our review, a guest post from author Suzanne Burke about how she came to write the book, & enter to win a copy of the book-details at the end of this post.

Logan’s Secret by Suzanne Burke
Review by Sheryl Wall

Logan’s Secret written by Suzanne Burke is a children’s story about a retired racing Greyhound and his journey to his forever family. It is told as if Logan, the Greyhound, is telling his own story. During his last race he just stops mid-race and his owner decides it’s time to retire him. The book goes through Logan’s experiences that lead up to his adoption.

He begins in a foster home where he enjoys time with his foster family–they have two children that play ball with Logan. When he ends up being adopted, he doesn’t like his new owner because she is always sad and won’t play with him, so he runs away. He is found and ends up back at the foster home, but he gets out of the yard and becomes lost. The book continues through Logan’s story and how he eventually ends up in his forever home. Logan shares his emotions as he struggles through his adventures. He shares how he kept visualizing his dreams and staying positive and how that helped him survive the difficult times.

Logan’s Secret is based on true events about a racing Greyhound and at the end of the story they share more details about Logan’s life. Also included at the end of the book is a brief history about Greyhounds.

Any child that enjoys reading about dogs would find this a fun and educational read. Its well written and told in a fun way that will keep the interest of young readers. I like how the author included a list of vocabulary words and a list of projects and questions that would help children expand their learning experiences through reading this book.

Sheryl Wall is an ongoing contributor to our
Pet Perspective section, providing pet care advice from years of personal experience.

Writing Logan’s Secret
By Suzanne Burke

People often ask what inspired me to write Logan’s Secret. The initial outline for Logan’s Secret was first written in 2005 following the real life events of Logan’s colorful journey to me. This is not just any dog, or any story, but at its core contains some timeless deep truths in life–positive thinking, perseverance, visualization, and determination.

It’s a story that probably most of us can relate to because it is not just about a dog’s journey to find his forever home, but resonates as a story of how the dog teaches a whole community about faith, courage, overcoming adversity, and triumphing at the end. The story is filled with life lessons for both young and old.

Logan’s Secret is told from his perspective–conveying the emotions both he, and the humans encounter in the search for this elusive hound. It is a story of impossibilities, but somewhere within the story, readers begin to identify with Logan and their own personal journey through life.

Logan is an adventurous racing greyhound who yearns to explore life beyond the confines of the racetrack. His early years begin as a controlled life of cages and daily routines. Fed-up with racing, Logan seeks his freedom to discover himself and his rightful place by imagining his life in a warm, loving home filled with happiness and joy. He uses the power of visualization and positive thinking to free himself from the bonds of the racetrack, only to find himself in precarious situations he did not anticipate.

Suzanne & Logan

On a deeper level, this story can help the adult reader visualize the human parallel of a person who is also seeking freedom to explore life beyond whatever confines they find themselves in, whether it be the corporate jungle, a battered relationship, or a joyless life.

I left my job at the end of 2011, taking an eight-month sabbatical to spend time with Logan and write our story. You see, I had promised him I would write his story one day while he was still with me. I began writing Logan’s Secret in January 2012 and by May last year I had published the first edition. Positive directional feedback from readers fueled a need for even more information on the history of the greyhound. I added a chapter at the end to educate readers on not only the greyhounds’ rich history, dating back over 4,000 years, but to provide information on the wonderful characteristics of this fascinating breed.

Greyhounds are generally stereotyped by the masses who only see them as fast sprinters. What they may not know is that this breed is a deeply spiritual dog that is very calm, gentle, loving towards humans, and comical which really brings out a person’s joy in knowing them. The second edition of Logan’s Secret was published in August of 2012.

The book series follows Logan and his greyhound friends as time-travelers through exciting historical periods from Ancient times to now. Each book is a chapter adventure story filled with illustrations to help guide it, and is filled with history of that period to educate the reader, whether child or adult.

My purpose for writing this book series is to encourage children and adults to enjoy reading, to educate them on history, and the joys of greyhounds as family pets, and finally to help raise funds so that other retired racing greyhounds can find loving responsible homes.

I lost Logan on December, 30, 2012 to bone cancer, and I am so grateful for the time we had together to get our story on paper and have it published so everyone could know the special soul he was and the joy and lessons he brought to my life. I believe pets are brought into our lives for a purpose to teach us valuable lessons. If you pay attention to your furry companion, you will come to understand why he or she has chosen you to help you with your own personal journey in this life. Dogs or cats do not have long lives because it takes many to teach you the things you need to learn. Maybe that’s how our creator designed it.

To enter to win a copy of Logan’s Secret, simply email KRL at life@kingsriverlife[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, with the subject line “Logan”, or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen January 26, 2013. U.S. residents only.

Suzanne Burke became involved with retired racing greyhounds after adopting her first retired racer, Allie in 2002. She has over ten years experience with this breed and has been an active volunteer for one of the nation’s well known greyhound adoption groups, Greyhound Adoption League of Texas since 2002. You can learn more about Suzanne on her website.