Book Review: Bugs (OT)(Oh, what a gem!)

Bugs, by Nancy Parker and Joan Wright (Harper Collins, ages 3-8, $6.99, 1987, 40pp, a Reading Rainbow book of 44 titles)

OK, so I broke my rule of not considering books that are old. Especially if they are research tomes, I usually limit them to the past five years. This is not research, however, therefore, I can allow myself to go back further, even to 1987 because Bugs is simply that good!

Many authors attempt to write in rhyme, albeit unsuccessfully. Author Nancy Parker, however, not only succeeds in rhyming but makes the rhymes make sense and flow into each other. She poses a question about an insect, then answers it with both lines rhyming. It must have taken a long long time to come up with such colorful matches! And her descriptions on the facing page have just the right amount of biological information - size, gender, stage of life, and ending with geographic location.

The final page is written more for the adults in the room with a bibliography and taxonomy, preceded by a few pages of a picture glossary for the younger ones.

We generally donate the books post-review, but this one is a keeper! With 16 bugs!

Book Review: The Tenth Good Thing about Barney (cat passes away)

The Tenth Good Thing about Barney, by Judith Viorst (Simon and Schuster, $16.99HB, ages 5-9, grades 1-4, 32pp)

Judith Viorst's books have stood the test of time and even though this one is nearly 40 years old and one that some of us grew up with, it will last and our grandchildren will learn from it about their best friend.

With lovely understated drawings of the story, The Tenth Good Thing About Barney is a book to read over and over again. And just like the boy in the book who cries before falling asleep, I know some children who will take this to bed with them, read it and look at the pictures and remember their best friend for many nights.

On a lighter note, the name Barney could bring up pictures of a dog as well as a cat as in Viorst's story.

In a nutshell, the boy can quickly come up with nine good things about his cat who passed away but he gets stuck trying to think of a tenth. It is not until he dad plants a seed that the boy can think of a tenth. And the ending will stay with the young reader forever.

Book Review: A Dog Called Hope

A Dog Called Hope, A Wounded Warrior and the Service Dog Who Saved Him, by Jason Morgan* (Simon and Schuster, $19.99, 325pp PB, 2018) Read a sample here and listen to a sample here.

Another Wow book!

I can usually tell, within a few sentences, if I am going to like a book. A Dog Called Hope was a breath of fresh air: I had read so many less than average books recently since I help judge several (about five) national book awards each year that I am relieved when I can read just for pleasure and select  my own reading selections.

Two books in one - or more. First it is the story of an Air Force 'weatherman' - then the story of a mission, then of an injury and the airman's work at recovery, then of his relationship with his family and service dog (whom he finally meets about halfway through the book). And also of puppy raisers for a service dog organization (this one is CCI, Canine Companions for Independence), and finally of CCI's spokesman, the author Jason Morgan. If this book doesn't make you google on CCI and read more about it, I'll eat my hat.

This is a book full of coincidences - of two wheelchair-bound men who 'share' a puppy/dog at different times, and of a dogfather and son themselves. And full of the ignorance of some people and the dog 'telling' his veteran to cool it and choose his battles.

And what is the real value of a service dog? To pick up dropped items? to bond with his person? to open up the world again for his person? or all of the above?

Dogs are indeed magical and this is indeed a magical book about dogs.

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*If you liked this book, co-authored by Damien Lewis, you will also like his book Sergeant Rex 

Book Review: Doggo and Pupper Search for Cozy (children's book)

Doggo and Pupper Search for Cozy, by Katherine Applegate (Macmillan, 2023, ages 6-9, grades 2-3, 96pp HB, $9.99) Book three in the Doggo and Pupper series. Read a sample, listen to a sample.

How does she do it? The author, Katherine Applegate. How does she write three dog books, each with 7 chapters and each with 96 pages? And each about that adorable canine duo, Doggo and Pupper. And Cat.

My first-grader's fave was Pupper the puppy while I was drawn to Doggo the dog. So much so that I wanted to buy more copies of the books and hang some pages on our bulletin board. That is, until I realized how funny Doggo's cowlick was. 

Nonetheless, these books are long but can be read (OK, digested) in chewable amounts, like a chapter at a time. Each of the three books in the series has a plot that can be bitten off in small chunks at bedtime and the rest saved for the next night. And so on.

In The Search for Cozy, Cat gets a new bed from the humans (who we see only rarely and then, from waist down). Oh. no!

It looks like the old one. Same color. Same size. Same location. But it smells new and doesn't have Cat's lumps and bumps where Cat wants them. In other words, it is not her bed.

What To Do?

What do friends do in a case like this? Will Doggo and Pupper search for the old bed or can they make the new bed old?

Cats are cats and dogs are dogs and not always friends, even if they live in the same house. The young reader will have fun guessing what happens next to these 'friends.'

Author Katherine Applegate never writes down to her readership: she always challenges them and gives them a fun read - one that they can compare to their own lives. 

And I've said it before and I'll say it again. A good book needs a good story, well told. That is what Applegate does, but how she does it is a mystery. 

Book Review: Doggo and Pupper Save the World (children's book)

Doggo and Pupper Save the World, by Katherine Applegate (Macmillan, 2022, ages 6-9, grades 2-3, 96pp HB, $9.99) Book two in the Doggo and Pupper series. Listen to an audio sample here.

In this second Doggo and Pupper book, Pupper has grown up a little bit but is still a puppy. Pupper and Doggo discover a bird nest with two baby birds. They see one learning how to fly but think the other is afraid and will venture forth only when he is ready. Unfortunately, that baby bird is later discovered on the ground hidden in a bush. What should our heroes do? Help the baby bird - or will the mother find him and teach him to fly?

Young readers will learn what to do with wildlife they see in the wrong places.

This is the orange book while Doggo and Pupper is the blue book and the third in the series, Doggo and Pupper Search for Cozy, is also orange - at least the inner front and back pages are, a detail little kids will remember. 

We all simply love this series and hope it will continue.

As for saving the world. . . .

Next: the third and last book in the series so far, Doggo and Pupper Search for Cozy.

Book Review: Doggo and Pupper (children's book)

Doggo and Pupper, by Katherine Applegate (Macmillan, 2021, $9.99 HB, 96pp, ages 6-9, grades 1-preschool?) Read a sample here. 

Ah, another great great (dog) book by Katherine Applegate of Dogtown, Odder and Ivan* fame. Really fascinating stories for children that even their parents love. Well-written. And the illustrations! Adorable, whether drawn, like Dogtown and Doggo, or photographed (like Odder and Ivan).

Doggo is a dog, not old, but also not a puppy. He is set in his ways and comfortable in them, too. Until along comes a pupper, Pupper, to live with them. Pupper has energy and questions and more questions and he wants to play all day until he zonks out for a quick power nap. And, being a pupper, Pupper has to learn. He gets into a lot of trouble. And Cat just looks on.

A long book with 7 chapters and 96 pages, Doggo can be read all at once, or one chapter at a time.

Doggo has a lot of different jobs (treat smuggler and dream snuggler. . . . ) and your young reader will love all of them! Doggo used to be fun and his humans are getting worried about him so they bring home Pupper who causes havoc! So much that the family has to send Pupper to school. And school changes him.

To see how Doggo handles Pupper and how they finally become friends shows us how we too can accept a new family member.

You too will fall in love with both Doggo and Pupper, and may even name your next dog, Doggo. Or, Pupper!

Next: Book two of the Doggo and Pupper series.

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Dogtown: 

Odder: 

Ivan: 

Book Review: Let's Roll! Ordinary People, Extraordinary Courage (OT)(Flight 93 on 9/11)

Let's Roll! Ordinary People, Extraordinary Courage, by Lisa Beamer (Tyndale House, 2002, 352pp HC, $13.57) 

It's 911 all over again. 

Do you remember where you were when you heard the news? If you are old enough, you will never forget. If you are almost old enough, you will recall that things were different that day and that week. 

Todd Beamer was on United Flight 93 leaving the East Coast for the West Coast on a beautiful sunny September morning, but the plane never arrived. Instead, it was highjacked - and then Todd Beamer and Jeremy Glick and Tom Burnett and Mark Bingham forced the plane down in a crash in order to prevent the highjackers from flying the plane into a government building like three other planes (the Pentagon and the World Trade Center) and killing so many people. Beamer's words, "Let's Roll!" will live on in the memory of our country.

Let's Roll! is the story of Todd Beamer, starting almost as far back as his grandparents and focusing on the kind of person he was, along with his young family, remembered by his widow. He left behind two young toddler boys and a soon-to-be daughter (born four months later).

What kind of a person would do that? A loyal American, a father, a son, a husband, a Christian. This is the story of a hero and the family that made him that way. A riveting, well-written book that starts and ends with 911 but focuses on one young Christian man.

I like a lot of this book: the chapter titles, the short chapters - and I venture to say that many if not all readers will come away teary-eyed.