Murphy and the Great Surf Rescue by Gill Lewis

Murphy has always wanted to be a surf rescue dog.  When it comes time for him to earn his surf rescue badge, he finds that the waves in the ocean are much bigger and scarier than he had imagined.  After he fails on his first attempt, and embarrasses himself in front of his hero, he is afraid to try again but when he sees a boy in real trouble, he finds the courage he needs.

I didn't realize when I took this book off of the New Book cart that this is in the same series as another intermediate I read, Star on Stormy Mountain. This book had almost the exact same plot as that one did.  That is not necessarily a bad thing for an intermediate series.  If all the books have similar plots, it helps emerging readers gain confidence and speed because they don't have to spend a lot of effort figuring out what is going on.  This book has simple black and white illustrations that add to the kid appeal and is a good choice for any dog lovers. (109 p. 2016)