The Zoo at the Edge of the World

Winnie reads, “The Zoo at the End of the World,” by Eric Kahn Gale.

The blurring makes it more mysterious!!!

This book contains everything: adventure, suspense, danger and LOTS of talking animals!  I would love to be able to talk!  Imagine me, a dog, able to tell my family… when they’re eating delicious, juicy steaks, that YES, I would love a piece too!!!  Or I could tell them how much I love sleeping as close as I can get to them at night!  Or I could tell them that I love looking out the front window and barking at everyone, and everything that goes by, especially other dogs!  Or I could tell them that I really don’t like the pink sweater they make me wear on our walks outside in the winter……..oops!  I’m getting a little carried away.  Back to the story, there is an actual family owned  zoo and it takes place in the 19^th century.  There is a Dad who is a world renowned animal explorer and his two sons, and they manage the zoo together.  The youngest son, Marlin has a very difficult stuttering issue to the point where he can barely talk.  However, he CAN talk to the animals in the zoo, and they talk to him.  How amazing!  People come from all over the world to view these animals.  Ronan Rackham, Marlin’s dad, soon comes back from one of his dangerous explorations with a black jaguar.  This changes everything at the zoo!  The jaguar has magical powers that he shares with Marlin.  The adventurous and suspenseful events that follow will keep you at the edge of your couch….where I like to spend most of my time!  Your paws will not be able to put this book down!  It’s that dog-gone good!  Enjoy!

Shane Burcaw is right! Not So Different

Pick up the book "Not So Different: What You Really Want to Ask About Having a Disability" by Shane Burcaw.  Get it at your local library, or from a bookstore, or from a friend.  Don't stop to sniff a fire hydrant, or pee on a tree - just read it.  It won't take you long, but you will feel enlightened and gladdened by the time you close the cover.

I really did want to know all those things about what it's like to have a disability.  Even though I can read people words I can't speak in people (different voice box!) so I've never been able to ask.  I can't hear anymore either, because of my age in dog years.  It is a darn good thing that I can read and type on a keyboard, because I so want to share the joy of this book.  It is simply brilliant!
Shane is magic, and together with Matt Carr he has created a work of genius, with humor and heart.
Matt Carr took most of the photos, and they get you up close and personal so you feel as though you could be one of Shane's best friends, and you so want to be!  Shane is friendly and smart and honest and funny.

After you have washed your paws and circled around a number of times on the best chair, open up the book and enjoy some of these details - the T-Rex, the family portrait with the game controller and the pee bottle, all the helping hands,

and Shane's brother hanging from the basketball hoop.  Even the end papers are droll!  But the best thing about this book is that Shane doesn't shy away from the tough questions, and he's guessed what kids really want to know.  It only takes about ten minutes to read this book, but those ten minutes might be the most important of your day.

I myself am not a genius, but I am able to make some connections between things I read.  I am going to do that here, and hopefully it will make sense to your human brain.  I read another book the same day I discovered "Not So Different".  It is called "A Boy and a Jaguar", by Alan Rabinowitz.

Alan Rabinowitz also writes about himself.  He tells about his early life, and his personal struggles as a stutterer.  He could not connect with kids his own age because he could not talk to them.  School was difficult for him.  Alan could not make the words come out in front of people, but he could sing and he could talk to animals - the pets he had at home, and the lonely jaguar at the local zoo.  He saw that animals were vulnerable, just as he was, because they could not communicate and speak up for themselves.  He made a promise that if he could find his own voice he would be their voice and help to protect them.

Catia Chien made beautiful pictures for this book.  They are expressive and colorful, sometimes dark, and often mysterious.  As Alan grows up he learns how to control his stuttering, and he learns how to follow his dreams.  This is a ten minute book too!  But what a powerful ten minutes, and what a beautiful and inspiring ending!  It made me shiver.

I just read another book that fits in here, called "Joan Procter, Dragon Doctor: The Woman Who Loved Reptiles".  This is a picture book biography written by Patricia Valdez.  Guess how much time it took to read?  You're right!  Ten minutes!  That's just how long I had before I got taken off to the dog kennel. Everyone else is going off on a holiday.  I'd be jealous, but I got to bring along the laptop, and I am also allowed to go out in the play yard with the other older dogs, and sniff their bottoms.
Joan Procter missed a lot of school as a young girl because she was sickly.  Luckily she had best friends - turtles, lizards and snakes.  She was super smart and curious, and this opened doors for her in her life, and allowed her to blossom.  Most women didn't get to blossom back then, in the early 1900s. When you read this book you get to follow along, as Joan immerses her life in the reptiles she loves, even befriending a Komodo dragon named Sumbawa.

The wonderful pictures in this book will intrigue you.  I've never seen such gorgeous lizards, portrayed with just a bit of whimsy.  Felicita Sala is a self-taught artist, just as Joan Procter was a self-taught zoologist, scientist and artist.  Her illustrations immerse you in a world that is so much more lovely than my room at the kennel, which is just four walls and a dog bed, with a shiny metal bowl.

What do Shane Burcaw, Alan Rabinowitz and Joan Procter have in common?  Personal struggles that just make them more amazing and strong.  The wish to help others, whether they be humanoid or animaloid.  Wonderful books that inspire in a mere ten minutes!  And they've all just had their books reviewed by a dog.

Winnie Reads A Cricket in Times Square

This is me!

My name is Winnie, and I'm a 2 year old Australian mini Labradoodle.  I LOVE to read and my family does too!  I'll admit, this is my first time writing about a book I've read.  Usually, my family and I just talk about our latest books....BUT, this is so much more fun!

So, I've just read, "The Cricket in Times Square."  My mother said she read it when she was young.  As we spoke about it, we agreed that we both loved this book although perhaps for different reasons!

The story has 3 main characters: Chester Cricket, Tucker Mouse and Harry Cat.  Personally, I would love to meet these characters.  I kept thinking how much fun it would be to chase them all around Times Square!  Chester Cricket gets lost in New York City and ends up at a newspaper stand.  He meets Tucker and Harry, and they have many fun adventures!  Chester Cricket starts singing and attracts humans.  He eventually holds concerts and many people come from all over to hear him sing.  Although he is happy in Times Square with his friends, he misses his home in Connecticut.  Tucker and Harry help him eventually go home.

Where's the Cricket?

I loved this story because it was funny and sweet, and I loved the characters.  As a dog, I thought maybe I could be friends with Chester, Tucker and Harry.  If a cat can be friends with a mouse and a cricket, certainly a dog can be friends with them too!

Giant Pants and Moving Pillows

TIMES TWO!!

Supreme silliness is afoot.  In my case afoot, afoot, afoot and afoot.  All four of my feet were twitching with amusement when I read these two books.The first one has a dog in it.  And a cat, but nothing can be perfect.  Laura Gehl wrote the words and Christopher Weyant made the pictures in "My Pillow Keeps Moving!"  A dog and a cat have no home and are shivering in the cold outside a store called The Pillow Place, which advertises that their pillows are guaranteed soft & fluffy.  A leg approaches on the right - that is just masterful, this illustrator really knows how to increase anticipation and silliness.

This is the setup for a very funny pattern - dog sneaks in to store, hides amongst merchandise on sale.  Goofy old man buys dog, thinking it is sale item.  At home his new product does not behave as expected, he takes it back to store.  Salesman (think used car salesman) assures him the product meets all guaranteed qualities (soft & fluffy!) and sends him on his way. This pattern is repeated with pillows, footstools, and jackets until we reach the inevitable very happy ending.
Make sure you look for the cat throughout the book, and don't forget to enjoy the stinky and embarrassing trip to the grocery store!

Next you might want to open up the giant-sized book "Giant Pants".  Ye Olde Mark Fearing wrote and illustrated this silly book, which seems to take place in the magical Middle Ages, with a touch of cyclops thrown in.  Belbum the giant has lost his one pair of pants, which were specially made for him by the tailor in town.  After unsuccessfully searching his whole house and flinging things about, Belbum must venture forth in his very large and polka-dotted boxers to try to find some pants.  He visits each of his friends - Polyphemus the cyclops (enjoy the picture of Belbum in a very small toga), Old Grint the wise gnome,  and Lucy the unicorn.  No pants!  Watch as Belbum cringingly walks in his boxers to find the tailor in town.  Enjoy his generosity with his friends, and then nod knowingly as he returns home with his fancy new pants, opens a drawer to put them away, and finds his old pants.

I was reminded of one of my other favorite books about a giant, "The Spiffiest Giant in Town".  That would make a great companion read.  Another favorite, "Lost Cat", could pair delightfully with "My Pillow is Moving".  So grab your dog biscuits and a big bowl of water, climb up on the couch and circle around about ten times, then settle down on top of the remote and the one good blanket and have yourself an afternoon of cozy reading.

 

Just Like Jackie Knocked My Whiskers Off

I realize my whiskers are not as fabulous as those of the cats (a source of much personal dissatisfaction!) but they are still big enough to catch the dog tears that were running down my rather wide snout as this book neared its end.  Just Like Jackie is a debut novel, masterfully written by Lindsey Stoddard.  Although I secretly think it might have been written by her dog.

When we first meet Robinson Hart she has just bopped Alex Carter's nose.  He is one of the worst kinds of bullies-an angel in front of the teachers but sneaky and mean when they turn their backs.  He has pushed Robbie too far, although to be fair it doesn't take much.  She seems to be always ready for a fight.  Her anger turns to fear when the school office calls her grandfather in.  What if they notice that he's confused and befuddled?  He always seems fine in the morning, but now it's the afternoon and his brain just doesn't work right later in the day.  He is all she has.

So let's talk about the characters.  There's Derek the best friend, a prime target for Alex's bullying.  You've already met Alex.  Ms. Gloria is the teacher who offers help and counseling - Robbie is assigned to see her often during the week. Candace and Oscar also see Ms. Gloria, and could be allies for Robbie if she could just let her guard down.  Grandpa is Robbie's most important person, he is her everything.  Harold is also important, he works at Grandpa's garage.  He and his partner Paul are adopting a baby, May.  Famous baseball player Jackie Robinson is a peripheral character.  As Robbie's namesake, he is an example of strength and character.

 

I see Mom on the couch, snuggling with one of the cats.  It makes me feel itchy and anxious, and I am having trouble concentrating.  At least it is distracting Mom so she doesn't see that I've got her laptop.  I'm going to just give you a few more tantalizing details so you realize that you really, really want to read this book.  You will be glad you did.

Not my family tree, just an example!!

Robbie's class is assigned a family tree project.  Most of the kids are super excited, but Robbie is not.  She knows nothing about any of her family, except that her mother died when she was born.  All she knows is Grandpa, and he closes up tight as a drum when she asks any questions.  Now that he's getting all confused she's afraid she'll never find out about her mother, or anyone else.  It turns out that she's not the only one upset about the project.  Candace and Oscar don't know where to begin either, but the biggest surprise is that Alex the bully is equally troubled.  All four end up in a group with Ms. Gloria, where many secrets are revealed.  As the deadline for the family tree assignment nears, exciting and dramatic things happen.  This is where the whiskers come in.

The cat is showing off her long whiskers on the couch as she gets all that undeserved attention.  Well, she can't read, so she can't feel the worry, and sorrow, and anger and acceptance that makes my eyes water as I follow Robbie through this book.  And therefore she can't experience the ultimate triumph of love and understanding, and the heartwarming finale when Robbie redefines what family means.  So as tears get lodged in my short and stubby whiskers I am an active participant in the wonder of a good story that expands my own world.  The cat may be content but I am enlightened.

Hygge versus Hog, or is it Hug?

Me getting hygge-y with it

Well, I have gotten quite a bit older since I last wrote.  My adorable nose is white now, and my back legs don't always work well - sometimes I plummet down the deck stairs, but I always bounce back as I'm still a little puppy-ish.  I have no excuse for not having written except laziness.  I have been reading, though!  I would never give that up.

people hygge

Mom asked to borrow my blog, as she is obsessed with something called "Hygge".  I thought she said Hog, and that she was complaining about Daddy's weight and eating habits again.  But that wasn't it, and it wasn't Hug, as I sat patiently waiting for her arms to go around me and her hands to scratch my ears.  That didn't happen, at least not right then.  Turns out there's something called Hygge that is all about simplifying, and nature, and living in the moment, whatever that means.  It comes from some place cold, and seems to involve food.  Unfortunately Mom can't cook, but she can make coffee and she also says she can buy baked goods.  She explained this to me while surrounded by dog hair and thousands of Legos and everyone's mess - what she calls material chaos.  Frankly it just prepared me for my next nap.

Two hours later I woke up and she asked if we could start the blog again, and she was going to have something called "The Summer of Moomins".  The whole Hygge thing made her think of it.  She is going to read a chapter of "Moominsummer Madness" each week, and use it to "drag herself back from the brink".  Don't ask me what that means.  She was getting a bottle of wine out of the fridge at the same time.

Where's their bottle of wine?

So, if we're doing this again, I am going to also review a book I've been reading, which has nothing to do with Hygge, or Hog, but maybe with Hug.  This week it is "Turtle in Paradise", by Jennifer L. Holm.  Turtle is a girl growing up during the Depression, not to be confused with the depression, which seems to happen about once a month at home.

Turtle is 11.  Her mother is a housekeeper who works for people who still have money during this poor time in American history.  Turtle and her mom don't go hungry as often as many others because they live with people who have money, but Turtle doesn't have a dad and her mother gets her heart broken all the time by men who are no good.  Then Archie comes along and he seems alright!  The bad thing is her mom's new boss doesn't like kids, so Turtle is getting sent to live with an aunt in the Florida Keys.
You may think that sounds glamorous, but this was before the Keys became a tourist destination.  Everyone is dirt poor, and Turtle is now living with a passel of cousins who don't wear shoes, crammed into a little rickety house.  She's the only girl, and she's got to use her wits and an inner strength she didn't know she had to make a new life for herself.  Soon she is coming out of her "turtle" shell and having exciting adventures.  I won't tell you more, but I will hint at the grouchy grandma and the pirate treasure map, and a fortune discovered and lost.  At the end Turtle gets the best treasure of all - her mama and a real home.  This book is so great, I just know you will love it, and you'll see that you can find hygge even in a rickety, messy little house.  Do you hear that, Mom?

Strongheart, My New Heartthrob

Wow, what a guy! The strong, silent type with a tough outside and a sensitive inside.  I loved reading this book and imagining myself back in the days of silent films, joining the throngs of Strongheart fans in their adulation of this amazing German shepherd.

Wish that were me on the right...

                 

While my heart is going pit-a-pat my feet are going typety-type-type, unfortunately making many typos because the fur between my toes is so long right now.  I want to recommend this book, "Strongheart: Wonder Dog of the Silver Screen", to any readers who like dogs or historical fiction. Candace Fleming based her book on a true story and included many real details.  Eric Rohmann made Strongheart look positively dreamy, even when he's sneaking donuts.  The pictures sometimes take up a few spreads, a la Selznick's "Hugo Cabret".  Dogs or reluctant human readers (even cats!) will find this book just whizzes by, helped along by the many pages that are only half filled with words, and by all those glorious illustrations.   I could just go on and on!

Fur between my toes

Oh, wait, it's dinner time.  I have to go stare at the refrigerator door.

Ack! What happened to all the food?

The Secret of Nightingale Wood, or, Who Is That Eating My Dinner?

Well, I know what you're thinking, you haven't heard from me in so long and you're wondering what the dogtail I've been doing with my time.  Maybe you thought my dog years had caught up with me, or I'd finally realized that dogs can't read.  But here I am, still beautiful and furry and literate.  My muzzle may be gray, but my heart is young.  Oh, and I'm deaf now, so I don't have to listen to the whining of those cats.

I just read "The Secret of Nightingale Wood" by Lucy Strange.  I picked up this book because the bird on the cover looked delicious.  Also, who can resist such a great author name?  I'm going to start calling myself Princess Berzerk, I'm sure I'll get more readers.
This book has everything - grief, fear, frustration, mystery, fantasy, beauty.  Do you ever feel powerless, caught in a situation that is totally out of your control?  Henry, short for Henrietta, has moved with her grieving family to Hope House.  Her old life was shattered by a fire that took her brother's life.  Now her mother is ill with sadness, her father escapes by taking a job in Italy, and Henry is left with Nanny Jane and Piglet, the baby (not her real name!).

How can Henry bring her family back from the brink when the evil Doctor Hardy has taken control with his quack medicine and inflated self-importance?  Lucy Strange has given voice to the very difficult state of affairs that exists when women and children are powerless against the whims of men.  This was essentially true of the world post World War I, when this book takes place.  Unfortunately it is still true in some parts of the world in 2018.  I know because I am a very literate dog, and try to keep abreast of these things.
Luckily for Henry she has the help of an array of wonderful characters, including the ghost of her brother, who may or may not exist.  They enable her to find her courage and use her natural cleverness to overcome her situation and bring her family back together.
"The Secret of Nightingale Wood" is beautifully written.  It has the feel of a classic, and a poetic richness that rivals some of the best books for children from the past.  I might curl up on the forbidden couch, perhaps with my nose in the bowl of pistachios, and reread one of my favorites, "Tom's Midnight Garden", to keep this magic going for a little longer. 

In case you were wondering who was eating my dinner, it was one of the cats.  I have chased and slobbered on it.

My Diary From the Edge of the Couch

Like Gracie, I am looking over the edge.  Like Gracie, I can see what I need, so close and yet so far.  Gracie and her family are looking for the Extraordinary World, I am looking for the Squeak Toy.

 Here's a picture of her Extraordinary World:

Does it look familiar?  That's because it is your world!!

Gracie and her family live in a mirror world to ours, except their's is flat, and it's full of wild creatures.  Kraken, mermaids(not so pretty), werewolves, giant seasnakes, sasquatch...  everything you've ever read about in fantasy is real, and very, very dangerous!

One day a cloud shows up.  Clouds come when it is time for someone to die.  Gracie's little brother Sam is sickly, and when the cloud settles over their house the family decides to outrun it, and to travel into the unknown.  As you turn the pages of this story with your tongue and canine teeth (very gently), you will be taken on a wild adventure that involves danger and hunger, fear and joy, growing and changing.  You will find a major surprise twist, too, right at the end.  

So pick up this book and do some couch traveling.  I hope your trip is as full and exciting and satisfying as mine was, and that when you come back to yourself at the end of the book you will understand Gracie's feeling that "the world is messy and getting messier, but that it's still our world, and we love being in it."

Oh, and you'll meet a Sasquatch named Daisy

Werewolves and Broccoli - Are They Really So Different?

Me, not a Werewolf or a Ghost!!

Two recently-published books came home in a bag last week.  Here's what I noticed right away:  Smiling mushrooms and a wolf on one cover, and a penguin and pajamas on the other.  The penguin wasn't wearing the pajamas, and the wolf wasn't laughing along with the mushrooms, but the juxtaposition of those images sure caught my attention.

So what did I do?  I grabbed a biscuit (or two), and lay on the couch I'm not supposed to by lying on, and started reading.  I was so engrossed I hardly had time to get off the couch and jump crazily at the door when my family got home.

Later that night, as I lay at the foot of the bed worshiping my Dad I started to think about those two books and what they had in common.  If I could have drawn a Venn diagram I would have.  Without opposable thumbs it's almost impossible!

The Astounding Broccoli Boy (Frank Cottrell Boyce) and Return to Augie Hobble (Lane Smith) both tell the stories of two underdogs, if I may use that expression.  They get thrown into unusual circumstances, one because he inexplicably turns bright green and the other because he has a close encounter with a werewolf. 

Rory, the broccoli-colored one, has to join forces with his enemy, who also turned green!  They decide they must be green for a reason, so they set out to do astounding things.  Astounding things do happen, but not quite in the way they expected.  However, they both grow and change - their lives will never be the same.  Would yours be, if you had turned bright green?

Now let's discuss werewolves.  Furry, drooly, badly behaved...  I've never liked them.  Augie Hobble is spending the summer working at Fairy Tale Place, the run down amusement park his dad manages.  He also has to go to summer school, since he failed his Creative Arts final project.  He's being bullied and his best friend is going away all summer.  Then the worst thing happens - his best friend dies while away!  And another really bad thing - Augie has a run-in with what he thinks is a werewolf, and soon his journal entries become very scary.  Is he turning into a werewolf?  The truth is even stranger, and let's just say it's possible for best friends to always be with you, no matter where they've gone.

These stories have humor, adventure, mystery, weirdness... but their power is friends, both new and old!  Now it's time for me to go pee on a bush, and for you to pick up a good book.

There Will Be Bears, and There Was a Sandwich

I'm going to review two books tonight, even though it is after my bedtime.  They both have bears in them, although I'm not sure about one of them.  It seems there might not have been a bear after all!

 

Let me explain.  The first book is called "The Bear Ate Your Sandwich" and it is written and drawn by someone called Julia Sarcone-Roach.  The pictures are delicious!  It is an easy book to read, and small people and their dogs can really enjoy it together.  There are sandwiches, enough said.  The plot is this:  Bear wakes up, smells berries, climbs in truck, travels and explores, finds delicious sandwich and eats it, travels home.  But there's a surprise ending, and it involves ears.  They are good ears, and this is a great book.  Can we believe that the bear really ate the sandwich?

The second book is for bigger people and definitely has a bear, a pretty big and scary one.  This book, called "There Will  Be Bears", doesn't have pictures, but as you read it your brain will be supplying some pretty vivid ones to go along with the story.  There is a family of people but the two most important ones are the boy, Tyson, and the Grandpa, Gene or "Gramps".  They have a special bond that gets tested in some interesting ways.  You wonder for a little bit if they'll be able to keep their love strong, and then you wonder if they'll be eaten by a bear!  I really thought this book was going to have an unhappy, and very messy, ending.  Before the bear there were some other bad things for Tyson to deal with, and the author does a good job of putting in some funny stuff to go along with the hard stuff.

You really want things to work out for Tyson, he is a good guy and his story is a good story.  Once you start you want to keep reading, and there's a lot of action to keep Tyson's story exciting.  You might never have a chance to go tracking elk, and you may never have a huge bear charging down a hill at you, but you probably have had trouble with a friend, and you might have had some girl (or boy) trouble.  Maybe your grandparents are growing old, too, and you might have felt sad and angry at things happening in your family.  You'll be rooting for Tyson and hoping that bear doesn't get him! Thank you Ryan Gebhart for creating an adventure that made the four walls of my suburban home melt away for an afternoon.  Now I'm going to lick my tail end and go to sleep.

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