If the Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne, the Ranger in Time series by Kate Messner and Paw Patrol got together and created a younger version of themselves with dogs and a time traveling van, you would get The Time Dogs series. The first two Time Dogs by Helen Moss are a sweet mix of fact and fiction. Clever stories bring to life the history of famous dogs and their people.
The first book, Balto and the Race Against Time has our doggie heroes, a group of old-timer dogs (Baxter, Trevor, Newton, Maia, and Titch a local homeless dog) who stay at the dog daycare, Happy Paws Farm, as their humans go about their every day lives, finding a magical van. When they hop in, they just want to get one of their buddy’s favorite tennis balls, not find themselves in 1925 Alaska! But Alaska it is, and they meet Balto on the most famous run of his life. But there is trouble getting the medicine to town! Can Baxter and his friends help before it is too late to help the human pups?
Book two Seaman and the Great Northern Adventure, has the team taking a trip to 1850 and another historical event, meeting Seaman the famous dog of Lewis and Clark fame. Now, they must save not only the human York who is a slave traveling with the team, but Seaman and later, even one of their own! When there are angry beavers, rapids, wild dogs and bears around, one must act quickly! Or should they? Trevor learns that sometimes the best plan of attack is to wait. And sometimes it is to chew the collar off a friend faster than you can say, “I’m a young pup again!”
You meet famous people and learn about real events. Moss’s afterwards helps put into context what facts happened when (while some events happened they happened before the time the dogs come there) and what parts are fiction. Also, each book teaches a lesson (for Baxter, to be brave and Trevor to be patient). They are humorous and most likely how dogs think about us, their humans they must protect.
Misca Saburi has good illustrations to break up the text.