This book will appeal to readers who love dogs and want a story about how friendship often arrives unexpectedly--and a true friend will like you for you.
--Booklist

Alex's perspective as an autistic person is relayed with careful authenticity, keeping the narrative grounded in both everyday struggles to connect with others and the warmth of small, loving gestures. Foster portrays the uncomplicated support pets can provide autistic kids, sensitively representing the difficulty Alex has in reading social and emotional cues. . . . Dog-loving kids will be begging to get their paws on this one.
--The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Foster's effective first-person narrative gives readers insight into how the protagonist's mind works, allowing them to observe the world the way he does. . . It is a testament to Foster's craft in character development that readers will care so much about the earnest, good-hearted Alex and that the final, tear-jerking scene is such a surprise.
--The Horn Book