Penny Burkholder, a young teacher grieving for a husband and daughter killed in a car accident, sets out from Virginia in a truck with Hope, her collie, to go on the dog show circuit. In the process she finds happiness and Hope has a reunion with his father, Nop. By the author of Nop's Trials.

A young widow travels the competition circuit with her border collie in this novel by the author of Nop’s Trials, “a great writer” (James Herriot). After her husband and daughter are killed in a car accident, Penny Burkeholder leaves her Shenandoah Valley home with her eighteen-month-old border collie, Hope, the only friend she has left in the world. Together, they make their way across the country in a battered pickup, earning money by doing ranch work and competing in sheepdog trials. One dream keeps the grieving young widow going: to compete at the national finals in Wyoming and turn Hope into a winner. Filled with fascinating detail about sheepdog trials and the uncanny closeness that develops between canine and human team members, Nop’s Hope evokes the quiet beauty of the back roads and ranches of the American West and brings to life unforgettable characters, both human and canine, including Hope’s sire, Nop.

A novel about the bond between a farmer and his black-and-white border collie that James Herriot called “beautiful [and] as gripping as any thriller.” On Christmas Day, Virginia livestock farmer Lewis Burkholder and Nop, his black-and-white border collie, go out to feed the sheep. But the holiday is shattered when Nop fails to return home. Stolen by two hardened criminals who see in the young stock dog a $300 payday, Nop suffers abuse and brutality as he courageously adapts to his new life, which holds no shortage of surprises. At the same time, Lewis refuses to believe that his beloved dog is gone for good. His determination to be reunited with Nop—and Nop’s own unswerving loyalty—reveals the depth and strength of the bond that can exist between humans and dogs.

Each issue includes a classified section on the organization of the Dept.

Discusses the understanding, fears, courts, custody, communication, and problems that young children must face and deal with when their parents get a divorce.