Book Review: The Pawful Truth (murder mystery with cats and a college)

The Pawful Truth, A Cat in the Stacks Mystery, by Miranda James (Berkley Prime Crime, 2020, $26, 288pp)(Review by Skye Anderson)

A cozy mystery, The Pawful Truth, is set in a small sleepy college town somewhere down in the deep south. Our hero and sleuth is a male college librarian widower with a sort of boarding house for professors and whose housekeeper-cook is the mother of the town's chief police officer. Charlie suddenly decides to audit a course, only to become snagged in a triangular love affair turned deadly.

We love the fact that he walks his Maine Coon cat, Diesel, on a leash to his office!

Thus begins a temporary type of book review - written one-handed since my other hand is broke (but with three stainless steel plates). So, for a while, dear reader, these reviews will be shorter than usual. . . .

The Pawful Truth illustrates the fact that men can be as good at gossip as women are and just as interested in food menus. More complex and longer than The Cat Who books are, these titles are a marvelous play on words.

Book Review: Daniel, The Golden Retriever (children's book)

Daniel,  The Golden Retriever, by Tammy Tomlinson (Feiwel and Friends, 2022, ages 4-8, 32pp, $18.99) Review by Skye Anderson) 

Golden Retrievers are the friendliest of dogs and Daniel is no exception!

Daniel is based on a true story, the true story of a very good boy who loves making new friends (especially the little ones) plus all the spoiling he gets ("fluffed, brushed, and watered") at dog shows. This is the story of taking one such trip to a dog show in New York City (in 2020) because he is a champion and is vying to become the all-around champion. 

Daniel glides, stands, stays, trots, and poses along with six other breed representatives but will he win?

With lovely colorful illustrations by Kiersten Egan, Daniel will capture your heart with his joy, whether he wins or not. "Dog shows are fun, but being home is even better."

Bonus: the final two pages depict the characteristics of goldens and their favorite jobs.

Book Review: Flawed Dogs, The Novel: The Shocking Raid on Westminster (a Scholastic book)

Flawed Dogs: TheNovel: The Shocking  Raid on Westminster, by Berkeley Breathed (Puffin Books, ages 3-12, 240pp PB, $6.99, grades 3-7, 2017)(review by Skye Anderson)

Do you remember the year the Westminster Dog Show* was raided? If you don't it's probably because it happened only in story form but what a great story it makes.

Peopled with numerous unlikely underdogs, Flawed Dogs contains anything but - at least in this reader's opinion. As a matter of fact, it may just be that this book originated the designer dog, such as "A Bolivian flat-nosed spittin' spaniel. An orange-crested Dutch baby dusenstruegal. A Chinese kissin' tellin' terrier." (p37) while, for the dog show: ". . . fur being poofed, nails polished and painted, teeth whitened, noses wiped, eyelashes curled, tails trimmed, breaths sweetened and bottoms perfumed." (p176)

Replete with a myriad of color illustrations as well as black-and-white ones, with full page illustrations as well as smaller ones, author and illustrator Berkeley Breathed has created a unique story line as well as nearly unbelievable characters and plot lines, starting with today and then going back three years. For example, who would win the very first dog show she entered?

Girls will like this book because Heidy (our star) is a girl and boys will like it because of the scare-factor and unbelievable dogs and action as boys try to guess what will happen next.

Love the single word chapter titles and short chapters, too.

Question for you, dear reader: are the flawed dogs really flawed?

---------------------------

*not the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show

Book Review: Bats (OT)

Bats, by Celia Bland (Innisbrook [now, Book Outlet], 1997, 29pp PB, $5.95) Review by Skye Anderson. 

This is an old book that you might not be able to find anymore but I put it here anyway as a representative of science books for kids - on animals, the weather, physics like volcanoes and such, and other topics kids like (even grown-up kids).

The best publisher in this area of science books for kids currently is DK, a British publishing company that puts out highly illustrated books for adults and children in 63 languages. Part of the American publisher Penguin Random House, any DK book is well worth it!

The Eyes on Nature series has many titles that sound interesting and want a place on my reference shelf.

Bats is unusual, however, in that the photos take some scrutiny. After all, bats are not often seen, being nocturnal, and seem 'put together' differently from other animals and birds, even though they are - surprise! -  mammals! Perhaps that is why there are so few stuffed bats for kids to snuggle up and sleep with, like there are myriads of stuffed dogs and teddy bears.

Each two-page spread

covers a different topic like fruit bats,  little ones, big ones, bat caves, bat roosts, and baby bats. This illustrates every fact on the pages and makes it easy to put the book down to go to dinner and pick up where you left off later and remember the illustrated facts.

Book Review: What it Takes to Save a Life (street veterinarian)

What it Takes to Save a Life, A Veterinarian's Quest for Healing and Hope, by Kwane Stewart (Founder of Project Street Vet), (HarperOne/HarperCollins, 2023, 215pp PB, $18.99)

What does it take to save a life? Just one of many people or happenings. . . . whether the life is that of an animal or human.

Kwane Stewart is a veterinarian who has had more ups and down in his life than probably anyone else. From being a poor student who is bullied to discovering a love for science, moving, getting in o a prestigious vet school, moving, falling in love and having it not work out, moving, conquering anger, and moving yet again. Fortunately, California is a big state!

For those who love animal stories, this is the book for you. In between the human 'happenings' can be found the stories of saving animals and their people who just happen to be down on their luck and who are surviving on the streets. ("There but for the grace of God. . . .") But more than that, this is a story of how one man is saved - "keep breathing."

Some people treat the rich and famous while others work silently behind the scenes. One such veterinarian is Dr. Kwane Stewart who has certainly found his calling*.

About 10% of street people have dogs and that makes all the difference between life and not-life. There is no closer bond between man and dog than the bond between a street person and his dog. They are together 24/7 so no leash is needed to connect them. The dog becomes family and the human will feed his dog before he thinks about the next meal for himself. 

Pairs of, teams of dog and man (or woman) are interspersed with the autobiographical time line of the Street Vet: this either keeps you reading or makes you want to stick with one or the other. And, of course, there are cats on the street. And birds!

*Project Street Vet

Book Review: Hank the Cowdog, #39 of 81

Hank the Cowdog: The Secret Laundry Monster Files (Puffin Books, 2011, 128pp PB, 8-11 years, grades 2-3) Number 39 of at least 81 titles in the series. Review by Skye Anderson.

Verbal SlapStick for Kids!

Hot on the heels of other Hank the Cowdog books reviewed here which are very very good (It's a Dog's Life

and The Fling)

comes the 39th in a series of at least 81 (so far) - The Secret Laundry Monster Files.

Our "hero," Hank the big dog, is Head of Ranch Security - we would love to listen to this book for its circuitous conversations that go nowhere but fun. Hank's job is protecting the ranch from villains, monsters, and destructive little raccoons (p. 26).

Our Hank is a lovable old hank of a dog ("Hankie" to Pete the barn cat though) who gets mixed up (even saying one sentence) but somehow always gets his man - eventually. 

Deputy Drover and Plenty of Dialogue When Confusion Reigns

If Hank listens with ear number one then, if necessary, with ear number two, then on the other hand we have Deputy Drover, a nondescript deputy, who helps the conversations digress and digress until they morph into new words that we can only guess at the meanings of. And the conversation makes everything as clear as mud: "At the end of every yowl is a yowling cat. To dogs with very sensitive ears, it's as easy as following a piece of string." (p, 15) At the end of every yowl is a yowling cat." (p, 15)

Cats, The Usual Suspects

And raccoons, and rat reports, and forbidden laundry hanging in the forbidden laundry yard (Sally May's), and strange noises in the night that our heroes want to wait until daylight to sniff out their IDs.

The Plot Thickens and Goes Round and Round

The two dogs bark at the Laundry Monster, waking up Loper, then eat horse feed by mistake - and a lot of it which is a faux pas. 

The Secret Laundry Monster Files contains a complex story line with a canine love interest, a pretty good cowboy song, and a who-dun-it (who ate the horse feed).

Book Review: Chicken Soup for the Soul of America: Stories to Heal the Heart of our Nation (a chicken soup book)(OT)

Chicken Soup for the Soul of America: Stories to Heal the Heart of our Nation, by Jack Canfield, Mark Hansen and Matthew Adams (Health Communications, 2002, $12.95, 336pp PB) Review by Skye Anderson

Every American alive today remembers where they were when they heard of the happenings of 911, something we will never forget. But have we forgotten? I picked up this book a few days ago and memories flooded back: of misunderstanding the news at first - at work. Of leaving work to go home. Of calling my mother on the other side of the country. Of not going to work for the next two days because we thought our agency was on the list. Of thinking of one colleague stuck in Japan, another stuck in the midWest and renting a car with two others to drvie back to the Washington, DC, area. Of neighbors congregating on a nearby corner with candles.

You have probably read a Chicken Soup book or at least seen one but did you know there is a whole slew of them - For the College Soul, For the Nurse's Soul, For the Veteran's Soul, For the Traveler's Soul, For the Golfer's Soul. Would you believe there are 232 books?

Add 911 to chicken soup and stir: the result is memories and inspiration and even tears that are especially valuable this week as we keep the survivors of the Texas flood in mind.

Organization

The book is organized into short 'stories' and poetry and cartoons (political and the Family Circus) under the following groups:

    911

    The Responses

    Renewed Patriotism

    United

    Reflections

    The Future

You can start reading anywhere, even at the beginning but be prepared for heart-felt stories from around the country and around the world and hope the inspiration of these memories stay with us to make our country stronger, more resilient and more together.

I especially liked how each selection was prefaced by a quote from a famous someone to set the stage. And I'll wager after finishing The Soul of America, that you will want to pick up another Chicken Soup and then another and . . . .