Review Detail

5.0 1

The Unlikely Tale of Chase and Finnegan

Middle Grade Fiction 316

Even Cheetahs Have Emotional Baggage

November 30, 2025 (Updated: June 22, 2026)

Overall rating

4.0

Plot

4.0

Characters

4.0

Writing Style

4.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

N/A

Finnegan is a dog who has run away from his home with Samuel after a misunderstanding, and he finds himself out in the wilderness in a world of trouble when he is attacked by another animal. Luckily, he is rescued by Ryan, who takes him to the vet and then adopts him. Chase is a cheetah cub born in a zoo to a mother who was rescued from the wild. Unfortunately, when her mother is taken for a veterinary procedure, she passes away. Chase must be fed and trained by Basma, one of the zoo workers. Finnegan is very scared of storms and causes some trouble at home. Ryan lives with Basma, who thinks that Finnegan and Chase could help each other out. They do a lot of training so that Chase can perform in a zoo presentation meant to draw attention to the plight of animals in the wild, but also comfort each other. Chase misses her mother and is leery of leashes, since her mother was taken away wearing one and never came back, and Finnegan is worried that Ryan and Basma will discover the secrets in his past and not want him to live with them anymore. The friendship that helps out both animals is based on a real life program at the Cincinnati Zoo.

Good Points

The Vivienne To cover will make this book immediately appealing to younger readers who like animal stories or who frequent the zoo; who doesn't harbor a secret wish to cuddle with a tiny cheetah? I loved that Finnegan was a rescue dog with a hidden past; so many bad things can happen to dogs, and they can't tell their new homes about them! At least Finnegan can confide in Chase when his humans don't quite understand why he is so upset when they are packing up to move to a new home.

There are just enough things going on with the humans in the book to add another level of interest. At one point, Ryan wants to ask Basma to marry him, and is quite nervous about proposing. The workings of the zoo are also quite interesting; I haven't been to the Cincinnati zoo in a long time, but was always impressed with the work they do.

Warga has quite a range of topics in her list of middle grade works; an immigrant tale in Other Words for Home (2019), a problem novel in The Shape of Tunder (2021), the sci Fi A Rover's Story (2022), a fantasy with some community issues A Strange Thing Happened in Cherry Hall (2024), and even a horror book in the second of the The Last Resort series, The Claiming (2026). This animal tale will be popular with readers who liked the unlikely friendships and animal perspectives in Applegate's The One and Only Bob, Bruce Cameron's Dogs with a Purpose tales, Robertshaw and Danka's Life in the Doghouse books.