Chestnut by Jennifer Li Shotz puts forth the tale of a family living on the financial edge and their daughter – Meg who wants to have a dog more than anything else in the world.

The Briggs Family Christmas Tree Farm is just entering their busiest time of the year as Meg has her twelfth birthday. Meg has been looking forward to this because Meg wants to show her brother, sister, and parents she is no longer the ‘little’ girl of the family. Now, she will be able to truly help daily at the yearly Christmas tree stand. On Meg’s way out to the tree stand, she discovers a hurt dog (Chestnut, a Plott hound, known for its tracking skills) entangled in the farm’s wire fencing. Meg rescues the dog, hides it in an old shed, then goes to work. Meg knows her parents do not want a dog.

Now the lying and the guilty feelings start for Meg. Meg has never lied to her parents before. She wants this dog so much. Surely, she will be able to find a way to support Chestnut so her parents will let her keep him. More lies, more guilt.

Meg’s parents finally discover Chestnut when he escapes from the shed and tracks Meg to the house. Meg’s tears are unending and her heartbreak all encompassing as her family takes Chestnut to the animal shelter.

Later that same day, the sheriff is called to the tree farm when it is discovered 150 trees have been chopped down from the very back lot of the farm. Feelings of financial ruin loom over the entire family.

Meg finds a way to temporarily retrieve Chestnut from the animal shelter with the help of her neighbors. Then, she and Chestnut track the thieves down. Along the way Meg falls through the snow covered ice into a pond. [Here is where my 10+ years, as an actively participating mother of three hiking Boy Scouts, has a problem with this story. From the time Meg falls into the pond until she is rescued by her parents, because of Chestnut’s tracking skills, hypothermia should have been so extreme, I feel, Meg would not have survived.]

Chestnut’s tracking skills saves Meg, the stolen Christmas trees, and the family from financial ruin.

Meg’s emotional roller coaster will ring true with intermediate readers.