about the book
Ranger is a golden retriever who has been trained to become a search-and-rescue dog, but he can’t have the official title because he keeps failing the test! Those darn squirrels always distract him when he’s trying to focus …
One day while digging in the backyard, Ranger comes across a mysterious box. It transports Ranger through time, and he finds himself in Independence, Missouri, where the year is 1850. Ranger assumes this is some kind of final test to try and earn his title as a search-and-rescue dog, so he gets to work right away! He joins young Sam Abbott and the rest of the Abbott family as they trek 2,000 miles across the country on the Oregon Trail.
Luckily for the humans on the trail, Ranger showed up just in time to help the wagon train. He uses his search-and-rescue skills when Sam’s toddler sister, Amelia, disappears, and warns the families when danger is near. Saving them from rattlesnakes and stampedes, Ranger loves to help people and hopes his hard work will pay off, someday earning him the title of a true search-and-rescue dog!
about the author
Kate Messner grew up in small town Medina, New York, and loved to write from the moment she picked up a pencil. But it never occurred to her that she could be a “real, live author.”
She studied broadcast journalism at the University of Syracuse. Kate got her best piece of advice about writing from a grouchy on-air newscaster while she interned for NBC in Syracuse. He told her to stop trying to copy other authors and find her own voice.
For seven years, Kate worked as a TV news producer and on-air reporter. But Kate inherited her family’s passion for teaching, so she went back to school. Now she is a middle school English teacher. Her students often inspire her, and she even wrote one book on the back of an attendance sheet on the bus while chaperoning a snowshoe field trip!
Kate writes everywhere, but her special place is a room just big enough for a desk, chair, and a couple of book shelves. They added the little room onto their house especially for Kate’s writing, and it overlooks Lake Champlain. Her son and daughter are always her first book readers!
Sources:
Author website
Author interview : Mr. Schu Reads
Author biography : Stenhouse Publishers
Author video presentation: We Are Teachers
Also by Kate Messner:
Race to the South Pole (Ranger in Time, Book 4). Scholastic. June 2016.
Long Road to Freedom (Ranger in Time, Book 3). Scholastic. 2015.
Danger in Ancient Rome (Ranger in Time, Book 2). Scholastic. 2015.
Manhunt (Silver Jaguar Society Mystery, Book 3). Scholastic. 2014.
The Marty McGuire series. Scholastic. 2011-2014.
Hide and Seek (Silver Jaguar Society Mystery, Book 2). Scholastic. 2013.
Eye of the Storm. Walker & Company. 2012.
Capture the Flag (Silver Jaguar Society Mystery, Book 1). Scholastic. 2012.
Sugar and Ice. Walker Books for Young Readers. 2010.
The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z. Walker Books for Young Readers. 2009.
Spitfire. North Country Books. 2007.
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