Running the Dogs — Thomas Cochran

In this heartwarming novel, a boy learns that even though life doesn't always follow your plans, things still sometimes turn out in a way that makes you glad to be in this world.

Talmidge Cotton's daddy is the kind of person who believes Christmas presents are for Christmas, not two days before. So on the day before Christmas Eve, Tal still isn't sure he'll get what he wants most: the chance to run his three beagles in the woods at night all by himself.

That afternoon it begins to snow, an almost unheard-of occurrence in Louisiana. Tal is excited by the strange and wonderful weather and the prospect of his first white Christmas, but then his dogs disappear into the gathering storm.

The next morning, they still aren't home. Even worse, the snow and ice have trapped his father in the southern part of the state, and it doesn't look like he'll make it home anytime soon. With Daddy and the dogs gone, everything seems wrong, and it sure doesn't feel like Christmas Eve . . .