Smart Dog - Vivian Vande Velde

A bullied fifth-grade girl befriends a dog named Sherlock who can talk. Soon, Amy finds herself tangled up in dangerous schemes and hanging out with people she never would have before. Thanks to Sherlock, Amys now popular. \n \nAmy Prochenko is only in fifth grade, but she already has a sixth grader's problems: She is wildly unpopular, she is the target of prissy Kaitlyn Walker's nastiness, and everyone thinks she and the dweebiest boy in class are an item. Then one day Amy meets Sherlock, a dog on the run from a university lab. Sherlock is not like other dogs: He can talk, he's smarter than most of Amy's classmates--and he needs Amy's help. Suddenly Amy's life is full of danger and excitement, and she finds she is becoming, of all things, popular. Best of all, she finds in Sherlock the sort of friend she's always longed for--the sort of friend she must protect no matter what the cost. \n\n