Book Review: Monty and Me (Golden Retriever, murder mystery)

Monty & Me, by Louisa Bennet (Clan Destine Press, 2021, 292 pp, $24.99 PB/$6.49 Kindle/$5.22 HC Int'l edition) Have fun watching Monty's inspiration, Pickles, at  https://lalarkin.com/cozy-mysteries/

If you loved Spencer Quinn's Chet and Bernie's baker's dozen (below) or his Bowser and Birdie series of three mystery novels for the younger set, you will also savor the Monty Dog Detective series which begins with Monty & Me. All are written, in part at least, from the dog's point of view with Monty educating us on a dog's life and loves (food, smells, ear rubs).

Monty's Three Lives

Monty Golden Retriever begins life as a guide dog whose voracious appetite causes him to lose his job. He then comes to live with Paddy, a bee scientist, whose murder Monty is unable to prevent because he, too, is stabbed, critically but not fatally. The dog's third life is spent with a budding detective who has to endure snide gender remarks on the job because she unknowingly messed up an undercover investigation by chatting up the suspect in a bar.

The Plot Thickens

Monty's person is murdered and Monty barely survives the attack. Luckily he ends up with a detective on the case, a Rose Sidebottom (after all, the story is set in England). Monty and company (and Rose) get into one scrape after another with the concomitant misunderstandings between the canine and human species. 

Superpowers! 

Our lovely Rose, however, has a superpower: she gets the tingles when someone is not telling the truth but she doesn't always trust those tingles. 

Monty, on the other hand, with his extraordinary sense of smell, understands human (hooman) language but can only converse with other dogs, and with cats, birds, rodents, and insects. Meet Celeste the ladybug private eye, Dante the magpie, Betty the rat, and three-legged Jake the Pit Bull, all who help Monty figure out 'who dun it.' But what good is that if you, a dog, can't tell the police who did it? 

Sidelines

Monty is picked up by the dog catcher and manages to escape from the pound only to get stabbed. Or was that vice versa? And Rose is put on probation and sometimes has to do scut work while other detectives get the exciting tasks. 

Rose and Monty, Outside and In

Author Louisa Bennet has fun with her readers starting with the unique cover illustration with our protagonists in silhouette. Rose or Monty also appear on each chapter's title page, alerting the reader to who will be the star of that chapter: Rose, the human detective, or Monty, Dog Detective. This reviewer noticed that on the cover, the girl is facing to the right and the dog is facing left, yet on the chapter title pages, their direction is usually reversed. One other mystery appears - why the chapter silhouettes are in different locations on the page for each chapter. Does this change signify anything in the chapter to come perhaps? Why does chapter 44 have no silhouette and why does chapter 41 depict both Rose and Monty?

Suggestions

We suggest you set aside a couple of evenings or an entire empty afternoon to race through all of Monty & Me. With a plethora of characters and a convoluted plot full of surprising twists and turns, you may even want to take notes.

Set in England, you will also run into new vocabulary words but they don't slow the reader down - just don't test me on too many of them. 

And, of course, if you have read DogEvals' reviews over the years, you will know that we prefer chapter titles rather than just chapter numbers. But Monty does have something we really really like - very short chapters (1-5 pages), even if there are 51 of them.

And The Future Is. . . .

I can see Monty's adventures being made into a movie, or a feature-length cartoon, or a series of short stories or picture books for children. And who wouldn't want a Monty of their own?

Monty tells us all about dog's sense of smell: how a dog can pick out odors from days ago and pick out several simultaneous odors: people can smell spaghetti sauce but dogs can detect the tomatoes and the garlic and the pepper and all the other ingredients. I wonder what Monty will teach us humans in the next book, The Bone Ranger.

I can't wait to read The Bone Ranger! I have never read an author with such a unique, creative way of describing things so humorously (or humourously, as Bennet would write). Your eyes will be opened to better appreciate your own dog, thanks to Monty.

Book Review: Dragons, Unicorns, Chimeras, & Clickers (How to train your critter)

Dragons, Unicorns, Chimeras, & Clickers: How to train your fantastic beasts, by Laura VanArendonk Baugh (AEclipse Press, 2019, 73 pp, $9.99)

In a Word: Wow!

At First Glance

I picked up this little book, one of three books in a series of Training Great Dogs, and figured I could read it in one evening, one sitting - and then I wondered if it would be worth the ten bucks I paid for it (about a dollar a chapter or approximately 16 cents a page). 

Second Glance: Entertaining Education

I was right on both accounts - it is a fast read, a story AND it is entertaining education! I am now going to give it to all my dog training clients to reinforce what we go over in our sessions. It is an especially fun read for kids - with real and imaginary creatures (chupacabras, dragons, mandrakes and banshees) and a story in 12 short chapters that illustrates training and tells you how to apply this type of training (clicker or positive reinforcement training) to your own dog.

Kids may read it for the story (taking a reporter on a tour of a very unusual zoo) and the imaginary creatures while adults will read the short short chapters to review what they learned from their favorite dog trainer.

So Good, The Dog Tried to Eat It!

True. I was dogsitting and placed the book on the couch when I went to answer the door. When I got back, I had to trade a treat for the book. I guess dragons are a canine delicacy!

Adjunct to a Summer Camp for Dogs and Their Kids

Like Denise Fenzi's Blogger Dog, Brito!, Dragons reinforces the steps in positive reinforcement dog training with a chapter a day for homework-fun at summer camp for dogs and their kids. And any kid (or adult) can make time to read less than five pages at a time - including illustrations.

What Do I Love?

The end-of-book summary of dog-stuff of treats, targetting, trouble-shooting, cues, and more.

What Would I Change?

It's hard to make an excellent book better so my suggestions as a former editor are perhaps only cosmetic. I would title each chapter rather than merely number them. For example, "Unicorns Love Dandelions," "Leash Train Your Favorite Gryphon," and "Shaping a Sasquatch." I would also include an index of the various critters and the training tips to help trainers assign chapters and create their curriculum, and to help families later find just what they need to brush up on training their Best Friend.

All in All

A great bargain!

Book Review: Piglet (A deaf blind pink puppy changes the world!)

Piglet: The Unexpected Story of a Deaf Blind Pink Puppy and His Family, by Melissa Shapiro (Atria Books, 302 pp, 2021, $26)

The Most Inspiring, Feel-good Book of 2021!

Perhaps you already know rat-sized puppy Piglet from his Facebook page, the Dodo story on YouTube, his appearance on TV, in People magazine - but I didn't know the Piglet before I finally picked up this book at my booksellers' establishment. Now I am a rabid fan.

A Piglet State of Mind

What's one more dog when you already have a six-pack of rescue dogs, four birds, and three kids? Especially a one-and-a-half pound puppy? I mean, how much more work can one little puppy be? 

A traumatized tiny survivor of a hoarder who transforms the world - hard to believe, but true. The reader may recall the story of Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan. . . . 

How much more work can one little puppy be?

It turns out, a lot, when that little puppy is deaf and blind with a voice that just won't stop demanding.

Of course author and Connecticut veterinarian Melissa Shapiro and her family only meant to foster little Piglet for a couple of weeks, tops, until he put on some weight and got back on his feet. The Shapiros had fostered dogs and birds before so they knew the ropes. But they didn't know how close they would become to little Piglet in just a few days. It turns out they needed Piggy and Piggy Sue needed them.

After life settled down (sort of) and word got out gradually, this little special-needs pup became a symbol for acceptance and diversity with his Inclusion Pack of six canines. Grade schools developed a curriculum around Piglet and he inspired others to foster and adopt special-needs dogs plus - you can bring the Piglet home in the form of T-shirts, stickers, and more - all to support dog rescues.

Acceptance, Inclusion, Empathy and Kindness: A Piglet Mindset - Love

A wee little dog teaches children and makes learning about acceptance, inclusion, empathy and kindness, fun. Piglet is a role model for overcoming adversity and the children started it all. Third-graders started a classroom project and "adopted" little Piglet: this, followed by a Facebook explosion may just change the world for the better....

With lovely writing by Shapiro and with Mim Eichler Rivas, Piglet is a warm, family story in two parts. The first tells the story of Shapiro and Piglet. We become part of Melissa's family growing up: we may also be Melissa, as we follow her life with two very encouraging parents. At an early age, she decided to become a veterinarian and totally devoted her high school and college years toward getting into veterinary school, which was more difficult since Connecticut did not have a vet school. Shapiro is extremely goal-oriented and a list-person. And yet, she is supportive and a good friend to have as well.

We meet all her family dogs (and a ferret) and even learn how she met her husband. When two of her kids are off to college, a deaf blind pink pup prematurely falls into her lap, a pup who is a devil barker, screamer, and wailer. But Shapiro understands the pup's fears and comforts him though her husband turns out to be the Piglet's Favorite Dad. With the help of the Shapiro family pack of six dogs, especially 12-year-old Susie-dog who adopts the Pig, eventually the little pup blossoms.

How Piglet maps out a new room very methodically and never forgets it, or how he learns a new person by their smell, is simply amazing. Just because one has only three of the five senses does not make one any less a person - or dog. 

The second half of the book is about Piglet's work (and Shapiro's), being interviewed about deaf blind dogs and how they learn to navigate and to learn: instead of verbal or visual cues, Shapiro uses body taps to mean different things to Piglet. A tap on the rump is Sit, for example.

And Piglet and Shapiro visit classrooms and veterinary and animal conferences, are interviewed on television, and are written about in the media, but mostly they support dog rescues, especially fund-raising for those rescues filled with special needs individuals.

Join Piglet's Inclusion Pack!

If you loved Oogy: The Dog Only a Family Could Love

and Another Good Dog: One Family and Fifty Foster Dogs,

 

you will love Piglet!

Book Review: Montana's Memory Day (foster to adoption, country living, wood carving - for children) (OT)

Montana's Memory Day, A Nature-Themed Foster/adoption Story, by Sue Lawrence (Mascot Books, $16.95, 2021, 38 pages, ages 4-8, grades K-2*)

A New Mom, life on the farm in the middle of nowhere in the middle of a snowy winter that begins with dawn chores - a book to help make the best adoption story even better with made-up words (just a few) that are perfectly understandable! 

This is Montana's Memory Day

A Memory Day could be an anniversary of one's Adoption Day when New Mom says her now forever son Montana carved his way into her heart as they carve shapes out of dried branches. Adoptees, non-adoptees and families will feel part of the story, that this tale is for them and with them. 

Sounds on Nearly Every Page

Splosh, Slosh, Surge of a winter creek. 

Crunch and Stomp in new snow.

Skip, Dip, Flutter - the American dipper (bird)

Whack, Clunk, Thud - gathering firewood

Plus, information in the back about whittling (wood carving). (When I was a kid, we practiced by carving on bars of Ivory soap.) And a glossary. And facts and websites about fosters. And recommended reading about foster kids and whittling (and the difference between whittling and carving).

Watercolors You'll Wish You Could Keep

Lovely watercolor illustrations of brown trees and rocks,  and the whites of snow, and the pale blues of a winter's sky.

*primarily for the under 5 age group

Book Review: Goodnight Little Owlet (OT)

Goodnight Little Owlet, Poems for Little Creatures from the Very Big Wood, by Anne Marie Brown (Wordee Publishing, 2021, $8.99, a board book for ages 0-6 - good for the 2 1/2 year old especially)

A Lovely Little Treat

Goodnight Little Owlet is the third book in the 'Poems for Little Creatures from the Very Big Wood' series (Foxy Moxy and Hazel's First Winter) by Anne Marie Brown.

Replete with absolutely lovable rhyme, meter and social emotional learning, author Anne Marie Brown has given us 'a little gem for little people.' This toddler-sized book is just right for little hands (and strong enough to last) with a lovely go-to-sleep story for naps or nighttimes. The rhyme-scheme actually helps a little (or big) one fade off to sleep with delightful word pictures and soft, soothing illustrations!

The story is very rhythmic, a book of pictures with just a couplet on each page. Baby owl and mom inhabit the book, the mom who protects and teaches (numbers to 5) with stars in the sky and breaths one takes to relax.

This book is a keeper!

Book Review: Don't Bite the Cat (or dog or hamster or fish)

Don't Bite the Cat, by Ryan Allen (Writers Republic, LLC, 2021, 28 pages, $25.99 HC, $12.35 PB, up to age 12*) 

Lovely way of teaching a fun, hidden lesson. 

After reading once, nearly every child can read it to Mom or Dad because the illustrations fit so well to the story plus the words and phrases repeat almost exactly (with four 'chapters'). 

The simple graphics are just busy enough with different parts emphasized and modified on each page, according to the story.

And remember, don't bite the cat, hit the dog, kick the hamster, or poke the fish. Instead, just love them because they love us!

*this book is primarily for the 5 and under age group especially for toddlers

Book Review: That Monster on the Block (ogres, yetis, zombies and more) (OT)

That Monster on the Block, by Sue Ganz-Schmitt (Two Lions, 32 pages, 2020, $10.99, ages 4-8, grades pre-school - 3*)

How Many Monsters? And What Do They Look Like?

That Monster on the Block has very detailed illustrations with primary colors galore. You will see a green monster and a zombie, and what a blue yeti looks like, and a greedy goblin, and an ogre, and a dastardly dragon, and a mummy (oh, we already know what a mummy looks like) - and more, like their unique houses - and especially a creepy cartwheeling clown who surprises all the other monsters. 

Find out why our green monster makes such a huge roar and even scares himself a little bit.

Here is a lovely lesson about new and different neighbors and why sometimes you have to make the first move towards friendship.

That Monster on the Block is more fun than a barrel of popcorn with sludgeberry swirl scones.

Can you guess what happens when a rainbow unicorn moves into the neighborhood?

*primarily for the 5 and under age group