It's Raining Reigning In My Heart

"Ann M. Martin" it says on the cover.  There's a girl and a dog running through the rain - how could I not pick it up with my canine teeth and give it a try?  Well, Ann M. Martin, whoever she is, wrote a great book with two great characters, the girl Rose and the dog Rain.

Being a dog named Princess, I liked the Rain Reign title.  I try to reign in my house, but those cats are like insubordinate peasants.  Don't they get that I'm bigger and more regal?  They are sneaky, too.  Anyway, I digress.  Rose is an unusual girl who has trouble making friends and behaving like everyone else.  Ann M. Martin calls it Asperger's Syndrome, but I can't even pronounce that.  Rain just has love.  Rain loves Rose and Rose loves Rain.

There are two other important characters, Dad Wesley and Uncle Weston.  I'd rather live with Uncle Weston, he is kind and gentle.  Dad Wesley is like a porcupine.

The bad thing that happens is Rain gets let out during a hurricane and disappears.  I was scared that Rose would never find Rain again, but she did.  That made me happy, but then something else bad happened.  I don't want to spoil the story so I won't tell you what, but I saw my Mom crying when she read those chapters.  Rose turns out to be a pretty amazing girl.

Why is the title Rain Reign?  Because Rose loves homonyms.  You might like homonyms after you read this book, too.  I still don't quite get them, because I'm not very bright, but I sure got the love of a girl and a dog.

Simple Is Best - Lizi Boyd's Particular Genius

I know all about how simple is best.  I often hear the word "simple" when people are talking about me, and I am the best there is!  I hear that, too.  Now I have found the best book, it is so wonderful in its simplicity.

Link to book in SAILS Network

I read and wrote about Lizi Boyd once before, because she had a lovely and brilliant book about a boy and a window.  The story had no words, but told so many things!  Now she has a book that is even better, because it has mostly my colors - the deepest black, the whitest white, the loveliest grey.  And she also has included many of my favorite things.  There are small furry rodents and plants to roll in and little holes to peek in.  So many surprises!

The magic begins with a flashlight.  In fact, that is the name of the book.  Everyone loves flashlights, and everyone loves being outside in the mysterious dark.  If you put the two together you can make all sorts of discoveries!  The boy has a flashlight and when he shines it out into the dark amazing things appear.  Some of them are furry and delicious!  Then he gets sleepy and while he takes a short nap something else gets a hold of the flashlight.  Soon it's a flashlight free-for-all until it's time to read a story in the tent, the perfect way to end the night.  I know you will love this book.

Link to book in the SAILS Network

Night Lights by Susan Gal is a great book to read with Flashlight.  A girl and her mom have a fun night with their dog and all the different kinds of light you can think of.  My favorite is "candlelight", for a birthday cake with dog biscuits all over it.  I'm going to leave that page open for Mom, hint hint.

Both of these beautiful books make you want to have nighttime adventures of your own, and don't forget to bring a long your best friend, the furry one with the waggy tail.

Hey, where's the tail?  Is this even a real dog?  It looks like a pom-pom!

Make Way for These Lucky Ducklings!

I am sure you all know about Mack, Jack, Kack and all their siblings (what is up with Ouack????) in that famous story written by Robert McCloskey.  If you don't know about them you'd better get quacking, especially if you live in the Boston area.  Even I know about them, and I'm a dog!  If you're human you can go visit the statues in the Public Garden, and if you are really little you can sit on them.  That sounds fun.  I don't go in to the city of Boston, so I can't enjoy seeing them or peeing on them, so you will have to do it for me.

Even though the pictures are only in brown and white they are fabulous.  I heard that Mr. McCloskey actually had live ducks living in his home while he was writing and illustrating the book, so that he could really get every detail right.  I tried to convince my family that I needed live ducks, but they didn't believe that I just wanted to draw them.  They're on to me.

So I was just loafing around the other day when a new pile of books came home from the Library.  One of them had a mother Mallard and her babies on the front.  It said "A True Rescue Story" at the top of the cover, and the title was Lucky Ducklings.  Eva Moore wrote the words and Nancy Carpenter made the pictures.  

I noticed right away that something fishy was going on.  These ducklings were named Pippin, Bippin, Tippin, Dippin, and last of all, Little Joe.  That sure sounds like Mack and family, doesn't it?  Then they go on an adventure, stopping at a little building - just like the little police station in the classic!!!! except there's a lady inside who is collecting tolls, but not from the ducks.  I was thinking, "This is just like that other book, Make Way for Ducklings!  I was a little upset because even I know you can't copy books that are already written.

Then I turned the page and everything changed.  The ducklings fell, one by one, down a storm drain.  That sure didn't happen in the other book.  I couldn't believe it!  It was so sad, except that their little feet were sticking up in a very comical way so I couldn't help laughing a little, too.  The story just kept getting more and more exciting, with firemen, and dark sewers, and trucks.  

I'm not sure, but I think Eva Moore and Nancy Carpenter meant to make connections between this book and Make Way for Ducklings.  The familiar story parts and images are like a celebration of the first book, but these ducklings have their own story to tell.  At day's end both families swim off into a gentle evening, "And that is the end of the story".

Grace Lin, Rabbit-Toads, and True Magic: Starry River of the Sky

I am magical!

So is this!!

There are lots of different magics, many of which I don't really get since I am a dog, and supposedly not a very super-intelligent one.  There's tricks done by experts, which I sometimes see on TV, and tricks done by my little person, which involve a lot of hands-behind-back action.  Then there's the magic of new dog food. Garbage left unattended can have a magic of its own, as can cats caught in a corner.

This weekend I discovered the true magic of story.  It started with a thick book with some gold on the cover, which caught my eye.  Then I saw a rabbit, and a tiger (really just a large cat, right?), and a boy carrying a sack that might contain some kind of food.  When I used my tongue to flip over the pages I saw colorful illustrations and words that were not too hard for me.  Being between meals, I flopped right over with the book resting on my furry belly.

Link to book in SAILS Network

Hours later I was brought back to reality by my family coming through the back door.  I had spent the afternoon in the wonderful world of the Village of Clear Sky.   The name makes the village sound beautiful, but it is not.  It is dry, and poor, and on one edge is "the stone pancake", a long stretch of barren stone, not a real delicious pancake.  Rendi is a boy who has run away from his rich home, hurt and angry, and has become a chore boy at the village Inn.  Every day he does his chores in a fog of anger, every night he is haunted by wails of misery that only he can hear.

I had become immersed in the world of Rendi, and the little girl Peiyi and her father the inn keeper, and the beautiful Madame Chang and old Mr. Shan with his long beard and lost eyes.  There are mysteries in the story:  Where is the moon, which has left the sky?  Why does Rendi hear sounds of pain and suffering each night?  Who is the mysterious Madame Chang who tells the amazing stories?  Why does Mr. Shan love the toad he calls "Rabbit"?  I mean really, can anyone really love a toad? They taste terrible!

I had to share this book with Mom, because she was the one who brought it home from the Library.  So I had to wait until Sunday to finish this book.  In the meantime I watched her read, and smile, and look sad, and cry, and get cranky when others bothered her while she was reading.  When she finished I could tell she was still in the Village of Clear Sky in her mind, and for quite a long time.  I had to sneak the book off the table and go back down to the basement to read it.  I think they all thought I was eating the kitty litter again!

What a story!  It is a story with other stories woven in, and you can't put it down!  Mom kept going on about "universal truths", whatever that means.  All I know is it fills your heart and soul with beauty.  It is a mystery and a fairy tale, and you want to lean up against the characters and get your ears scratched and give them doggy comfort in return.  Even I cried in parts, but I guess it sounded as though I were just whining, because Daddy took me out to pee.

This is a book of magic for everyone, but is special if you are from China or have Chinese family.  Grace Lin has created beauty in a work filled with pain and hope, and toads and snails, and rabbits and tigers, and love and regret- but most importantly with peace and forgiveness and a Moon and a Mountain!

Trying to read together - not so easy

Pinterest Stole My Brain!!

I have been a bad dog!  I became so excited about discovering Pinterest that I neglected my reading.  Who knew you could just paw in "squirrels" and hundreds of pictures would come up that you could then add to a board for your drooling pleasure at any time?  There were also lots of DIY ideas for dog toys, and sweaters, and homemade biscuits...  You get the idea. 

Finally I had to stop and pull myself away.  I picked up a few small books to ease my way back into the dog-that-reads mode.  It turned out they were quite good!  First, lets examine Alexander McCall Smith's series about his heroine named Precious.  I felt an immediate kinship with her, as my name is equally ridiculous.  Don't tell the author I said that!  I started with The Great Cake Mystery, which appealed to my love of all things edible.  Then I went on to The Mystery of Meerkat Hill, which also appealed to my love of all things edible.  What I soon noticed about this series is that it is beautifully written.  The tone is gentle and melodic, with a hint of Rudyard Kipling.  The characters are likable, and the setting is exotic buy homey.  Precious uses her very good brain to think carefully about the mystery that presents itself and she saves the day in very satisfying ways.      

Link to book in SAILS Network
Link to book in Amazon

I also have discovered that I have a good brain for mysteries.  I kept wondering, what is it that smells so good in that big white bin?  One day I used my snout to flip the top and there were delicious things!  I spread them all over the family room so that I could better separate the smells and taste the delicacies!  My next mystery to solve is why my mystery-solving caused my family to make tooth-gnashing noises.  I was quite delighted by their reaction, but I didn't fully understand it.

Not me, but I wish it were!!!!!!!

The other little book I read was Lulu and the Cat in the Bag by Hilary McKay.  I love a cat in a bag as much as the next person.  This was an especially big cat, too.  The cat caused mixed reactions during the book.  The grandma was unhappy, then happy.  Lulu and her friend kept worrying about the cat and doing crazy things, like taking a wheelbarrow to lunch.  There seemed to be a lot of animals roaming around.  Hilary McKay is a really fun author, there is always chaos and excitement, and then a happy ending.  I know you'll enjoy this book.

Oh, I forgot to tell you what the Alexander McCall Smith books were about!  The first one was about a cake and the second one was about a meerkat.