Thursday, December 30, 2021

Book Review: Sniffer Dogs - How Dogs (and Their Noses) Save the World

Sniffer Dogs: How Dogs (and Their Noses) Save the World, by Nancy Castaldo (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 154 pp, 2017, $16.99, ages 10-12)


We picked up Sniffer Dogs when we recognized Riley* on the back cover in his iconic 9/11 photo: we had met Riley, the 911 Golden Retriever, the following year at dog camp. We had breakfast together and fell in love.

We were also intrigued by the happy black lab in a life jacket on the cover.

So, we wanted to know what other kinds of sniffer work a dog could do.

Not Your Usual Dog Hero Book

Sniffer Dogs is not your usual dog hero book, with a few pages and photos describing a hero dog, followed by another and another. Instead, Sniffer Dogs begins with a long intro chapter about the incredible sniffing ability of the dog with a few examples.

"Dogs smell every scent. Sort of like the way we hear. We can walk into a room and hear lot of different sounds in one place: the voices on the television, a dishwasher running, and the click-clack of fingers on a keyboard." (p. 16) This is simply the best explanation of the sniffing ability of our friend the dog. We may smell the delicious aroma of spaghetti cooking on the stove but the dog smells the garlic and the tomato and the basil and. . . . 

A dog has been described as a nose with four feet and a tail! And after reading this book, you will understand and agree.

The Layout

With only seven long chapters, Sniffer Dogs goes into great detail on the kinds of sniffer dogs and highlights a few of them. However, with such great friendly photos,


the young reader will not realize the chapters are so long.

Did you know that dogs can sniff if someone's blood sugar is too high or too low and indicate that in advance to the diabetic? Did you know some dogs, eco-dogs, can sniff whale poop and then scientists can determine what that animal ate and even what species it is? Of course, you probably know that some dogs are trained to track lost people by sniffing the ground or the air and others 'work' in airports sniffing luggage for contraband, but did you know dogs can be trained to sniff out unmarked graves, even hundreds of years later? 

The chapter on history and the chapter on the science of smelling are unusually fascinating. The majority of Sniffer Dogs tells the stories of individual dogs, their training and daily work.

Meet the young puppy training to be a sniffer dog, find out the difference between an active alert and a passive alert, learn why a dog is not trained to locate explosives and narcotics. To them, it's all a wonderful game that precedes tug with their favorite person.

What We Liked

We liked the astounding facts interspersed throughout and we loved the photos of dog heroes that look just like the family dog. It turns out the author had actually visited the dogs she depicts. We liked the glossary at the end and the list of books and references, even if the author wrote down every conversation and newspaper article in addition to a few books and scientific papers.

And What We Would Change

Author Nancy Castaldo is obviously not a veterinarian nor a dog trainer: she has many animal books to her name. We would have preferred, however, that the highlighted paragraph on page 39 about alpha dogs and dominance and packs had been left out. 

All in all, Sniffer Dogs is outstanding with lively mesmerizing fascinating photos, just a few facts, and enough information on history and specialty dog training to make the reader begin to look into becoming a K9 handler in a few years.

*Riley on the back cover

Book Review: Always in Trouble (children's book)

Always in Trouble, by Corinne Demas (Scholastic Press, 2009, 40 pp, ages 4-8, preschool - grade 3, prices vary)


The Plot

The week starts with Emma and her dog Toby who does something different every day, from getting into the garbage on Monday to chewing up all the buttons on Emma's new coat on Saturday. And that's just one week! 

Emma's mom is mad so Emma decides to give Toby more attention. They do lots of fun things on Monday followed by Toby's good days and bad days. Emma's mom was mad. 

So Emma took Toby to dog school (taught by Mrs. Katz!) where he was a star! But then, after the course finished, Toby was back to his usual uncontrollable self. 

So, Emma left him at the dog trainer's for a week.

Can you guess what happened when Toby came back home?

The Words

Author Corinne Demas has penned the most delightful book we have read in a long long time with the possible exception of the ending, but it is the day-by-day story of Toby that will stay with your child and make an impression that will last and last.  Being such a long book, at 40 pages, the ending can actually be skipped or forgotten but the days of the week and Toby's antics will live on. And on. And on.

The Pictures

Drawings by Noah Jones represent every dog, their arrangements on each page are simply perfect, and the realistic portrayals of what Toby the dog does are so so realistic that every child will giggle all the way through Always in Trouble and love Toby just the same.

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

You will want to check out more books by Demas, especially the award-winning Saying Goodbye to Lulu, about a girl and her dog Lulu, available at the Howard County, MD, public library.


Saturday, December 25, 2021

Book Review: Poet Warrior (poetry and prose by an American Poet Laureate)(OT)

Poet Warrior: A Memoir, by Joy Harjo (W. W. Norton & Company, 2021, $25, 226 pp)

"Poetry can bring rain, make someone fall in love, hold the grief of a nation." (p. 175) And that is just prose from the three-term US Poet Laureate (since 2019) and author of her autobiography, Joy Harjo. 

Accolades for the Author

Author Harjo, a member of the Muskogee (Creek) Nation from Oklahoma and the first Native American to be selected as Poet Laureate, has accrued a lifetime of accolades. With an MFA, she has taught all over the country at the college level and received many honorary degrees. She even took up the saxophone in her 40s.

Accolades for the Book

'Poet Warrior' is a fitting and fabulous title for the book released in September, with references to the term throughout. The book has been the subject of several segments on National Public Radio, including eight minutes on The Book of the Day on November 3, 2021 as well as six other mentions. Diane Rehm selected Poet Warrior as the December Book of the Month Club in a one-hour book discussion with Harjo herself on December 15. Expect other accolades to follow.

The Review

Reading six chapters in this short book, the reader follows Harjo through her childhood, early motherhood, college degrees and teaching on the college level. Throughout, the thread is learning from nature, snakes and all, and from her ancestors, in the Indian tradition.

With a mixture of both poetry and prose, Harjo has penned a very creative little book, sure to be the subject of many college English Lit courses and perhaps even book clubs. This reviewer, however, found the circuitous life story to be fascinating with some segments told after the fact - easy to follow, though. What wasn't so easy to follow was the connection between the prose and the poetry selections as well as the words in her native tongue. A liberal arts or English major will love the story while a scientist may become bored and a bit frustrated. Regardless, look for Poet Warrior to be in the news for some time to come, along with Harjo's other memoir, Crazy Brave.


Sunday, December 19, 2021

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

Monty and 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 and 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 and 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.

Saturday, December 11, 2021

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!

Saturday, November 27, 2021

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!

Friday, November 19, 2021

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

Thursday, November 18, 2021

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!

Wednesday, November 17, 2021

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

Tuesday, November 16, 2021

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

Sunday, October 31, 2021

Book Review: Mystery in the Jackson House (dilapidated house, bullies and besties, junior high)

Mystery in the Jackson House, Number 1 in The Triple Dog Dare Series, by Judy Sheer Watters (Independent Publishers, 2021, 162 pages, $14.99)


Remember what it was like to be an eighth-grader going into ninth grade at the end of the school year and the beginning of a long hot summer? (but The Jackson House does not have young love or even a girl at all! Nevertheless, girls, too, will devour this book.)

Or maybe your son is that age and what if the class bully starts picking on him and dares him to spend a night in the old haunted house that nobody has lived in for 50 years? And what if he double dares the bully to and the bully triple dares your son to keep it a secret?

Long years ago, I remember that kids could sleep out in their backyards and be gone with their bikes and buddies all day, exploring town and the fields around the farms - as long as they took a sandwich with them.

The Jackson House starts slowly but builds to a crescendo that will make young readers stay up all night to finish it. How a woman author could write so realistically about young teen boys is a wonder, but she does so and with aplomb!

From Bully to Bestie?

Of course, the whole bully thing sort of makes sense but can a bully really change so quickly? This bully can and becomes besties with our young hero.

Throw in some lies (mostly white), a little bit of church, a father's stroke, grandparents who come to live, a brother who gets into trouble with the law, a dog and a little brother, hundreds of comic books, and. . . you'll never guess what the treasure is!

Our whole family can't wait for the second book in the series!

Saturday, September 11, 2021

Children's Book Review: BOOM! Big, Big Thunder & One Small Dog (ages 3-7)

BOOM! Big, Big Thunder & One Small Dog, by Mary Lyn Ray (Disney Hyperion Books, $16.99,  2013, ages 3-7, 40 pp)

Rosie is a small white nondescript dog who has a boy all her own. Generally she is a very brave little dog - not afraid of tigers or orange cats or the garbage collectors/mail carriers - or even baths!

BUT Rosie is afraid of thunder. She won't eat. "There was no comfort in a biscuit." Her boy tries everything to comfort her but she attempts to get away from the thunder by hiding here, there, everywhere. She even closes her eyes.

Does Rosie ever get over her fears and return to the otherwise brave little pupster she usually is? What do you think will help her? Read her story to find out!

Writing Style and Illustrations

Children's books depend not only on the story (in this case, a lovely story) but also on the illustrations. Artist Steven Salerno puts just enough detail in each page to explain the story and serve as a jumping-off point for little conversations by little people. And author Mary Lyn Ray has written so many wonderful little books for youngsters and even oldsters including Goodnight, Good Dog


and A Lucky Author Has A Dog.


She also wrote Go To Sleep, Little Farm, reviewed here.


Caveat: Your public library probably has a few Mary Lyn Ray books!

Friday, September 10, 2021

Children's Book Review: Go To Sleep, Little Farm

Go To Sleep, Little Farm, by Mary Lyn Ray (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014, 38 pp, $16.99, ages baby - 3 years) Watch and listen to the book here.

Ah, two books (this review and the following one*) by our favorite author, Mary Lyn Ray

 (Goodnight, Good Dog













and A Lucky Author Has A Dog 

and more that we haven't read - yet).

We picked up Go To Sleep, Little Farm when we saw a sleeping sheep on the cover! We wanted to read it to a small circle of small friends at a large sheep event. . . .

Not only the animals but also the trees go to sleep, the pasture grows still, "quiet spreads and evening comes on - speckled with stars like the spots on a fawn."

Even inanimate objects go to sleep, one by one: "slippers asleep on the rug, . . " and "minutes that sleep inside clocks."

The words that rhyme are so unique and creative, the book simply flows. When you read it again you will hopefully notice something else - the little girl in her red 'jammies' is imitating the animals who go to sleep one by one.  And then our little girl dreams of petting the sleepy beaver, riding the sheep, snuggling with the fawn.

In children's literature so much depends on the illustrations: Christopher Silas Neal paints simple scenes on every page, chockfull of details that your young ones can pick out. 

Nevertheless, words are just as important as the illustrations. In Go To Sleep, however, author Mary Lyn Ray is not quite up to her usual marvelous self with her writing style: on the other hand, the book is uniquely creative which will lend itself to being read again and again.

Caveat: We checked this book out from the Howard County, MD, public library.

* BOOM! Big, Big Thunder & One Small Dog 



Thursday, September 9, 2021

Book Review: Stars (children's book, dogs, cats, pj's, everything!)

Stars, by Mary Lyn Ray (Simon and Schuster, 2017, $7.99, 36 pages, ages 1-5) Watch and listen to the book here.

Stars only gets better the more you read it! "Stars are everywhere. Not just in the sky."

What can you do with a star? 

Where can you find a star? 

When can you see a star? 

Who is a star? 

What is a star? 

Why does the sky have stars? 

"A star is how you know it is almost night." And, it makes the night not so dark. And you need it dark to see stars in the night sky.

A star is not a rock: it can make you a sheriff, it can become a wand. Some stars are people. Yellow stars become pumpkins while white ones grow into strawberries or fall from the sky during winter or are blown away from dandelions by the wind. And lots of colored stars shoot up into the sky - on the Fourth of July.

Who is Mary Lyn Ray?

Author Mary Lyn Ray, a southerner transplanted to New England, is the much-beloved children's author of Goodnight, Good Dog


(but she didn't have a dog growing up), and A Lucky Author Has A Dog


and Boom!

and others that we want to read, like Mud.

 

Although Stars is not our first choice in Mary Lyn Ray books, it is climbing up.

Can you keep a star in your pocket? 

YES! You can even make a star to keep in your pocket.

Caveat: We checked this book out of our county public library, along with other wonderful Mary Lyn Ray books.

Wednesday, September 8, 2021

Book Review: Think Outside the Box (OT) (blue, yellow and orange cut-out lessons)

Think Outside the Box, by Justine Avery (Suteki Creative, 36 pp, 2020, $9.59, ages 8-12)



Author Justine Avery has created another unique little book but this one needs a little bit of 'splaining for this reviewer. 

First of all, illustrator Liuba Syrotiuk has produced numerous original illustrations that can only be described as paper cut-outs so they look 3D with shadows - lots to see, focus on, and discuss. However, they don't always seem to fit the prose - or if they do, it is not immediately obvious which is what you want in a children's book (not necessarily in a literary work of art, though). Other illustrations are simply very illustrative and flow easily within the overall colors of blue, yellow and orange.

And, secondly, the flow of the book mirrors the title, with little added development. Even adults often prefer stories more than straightforward lectures. This book preached rather than let us discover the obvious lessons through words, stories and pictures - which makes the lessons harder to remember and apply in daily life, growing up. The good advice in Think Outside the Box is generally advice you have heard before, but some pages are spot-on and definitely worthwhile in new ways to remember like the following one:

"Thinking outside the box is like. . . Coloring outside the lines - on purpose! It's like trying to run a race the slowest. Or eating an ice cream cone from the bottom up"

Monday, September 6, 2021

Book Review: The Stalking Seagulls (OT)(boy at the beach, Dyslexic Font)

The Stalking Seagulls, by Michelle Vattula (Maclaren-Cochane Publishing, 2021, 32 pp, $15.99), a dyslexic inclusive book* the size of a piece of paper turned sideways

Two brothers go to the seashore: one is always in the background. Keep your eye on him - something new to discover and smile about as you spot him eating something different on every page as the story gets darker.

The big brother is fighting the Battle of the Seagulls, trying to protect his sandwich from the always-hungry mob. He sets up a bucket blockade, hides the sandwich under his sun hat, and . . .  finally - it's lunchtime! 

But the surprise ending is one you will not soon forget. We did not anticipate it!

Dyslexic Inclusive

The most amazing part of Stalking Seagulls is the font* - I kid you not! It is written in a typeface easier for many dyslexic children to read, with nine special features like heavier bottoms, wider spacing, slightly slanted letters, and bigger openings (like for the letter c) and yet, the modifications are not so evident that non-dyslexics notice. What a service to kids!

*Dyslexiefont.com

Monday, August 23, 2021

Book Review: The Hiding Place (veterans, Vermont, dogs, murder mysteries)

 The Hiding Place: A Mercy Carr Mystery, by Paula Munier (Minotaur Books, 2021, 323 pages, $27.99)


Hot on the heels of A Borrowing of Bones (2018) (reviewed here) and Blind Search (2019) comes another Mercy Carr mystery, The Hiding Place (2021).

The Series

Mercy Carr, a former Army MP (military police) who deployed to Afghanistan, has returned to Vermont, sans fiance, a dog handler, who didn't make it back. Mercy is now confronted with mystery after mystery, along with her loyal sidekick, Elvis, her fiance's MWD (military working dog). Other characters include a lovely veterinarian grandmother with her main squeeze, and Mercy's two attorney parents in Boston who couldn't be more different from Mercy and her grandmother. 

Another Good, Fast, yet Long and Convoluted Read

Be sure to set aside enough time to read this book in a short period of time, since there are a lot of characters to keep track of. Or, take notes.

And thank goodness, this book is about the dogs - again, in this third book of the series. One, a Malinois/Belgian Shepherd, Elvis (similar to a German Shepherd), had been an MWD while the other, a rescue Newfie mix, Susie Bear, was trained in Search and Rescue (SAR) for his person, a fish and Wildlife Department game warden in Vermont and Mercy's main squeeze.     

Violence there is - an explosion. And more. A missing girl from long ago, never to be found - or can Mercy find her? Add a missing grandmother.

And Now, for the Story

Mercy's grandfather was murdered many years ago and now his murderer has escaped from prison down south fixing to travel north to take care of her grandmother, and not in a good way. Mix in Grandfather's partner on his death bed giving Mercy a cryptic message.

Plus another veteran who says Elvis the dog is rightfully his and he has come from Texas to claim him.

How on earth can all this tie together or, as in life, perhaps it can't. Read The Hiding Place to find out. And then read A Borrowing of Bones


and Blind Search

and you will be hooked. After that, Fixing Freddie (2010) will be like a walk in the park!

Friday, August 13, 2021

Come to the 75th Annual Howard County, Maryland, Fair! (Saturday)

 Come to the fair Saturday, the last wonderful day, at West Friendship in Howard County, Maryland (route 32 and 70) just outside Baltimore.

Print out these photos and try to find them at the fair. Eat lots of fun food, ride the rides, see the animals, buy some veggies to take home!

Find the veggie stands at the entrance and, when you leave, stop here again for local produce.

Colorful veggies

A dozen ears of Howard County corn for a five-spot

Next on the tour, check out the rides (these pictures were taken early in the morning before the crowds arrived and the rides were open).

A classic rollercoaster

Ride the rides!

And, the food! Eat early so you will have room for more! We had the ubiquitous corndogs and tried a bacon-wrapped hot dog.

A county fair favorite

A new county fair favorite

And, for desert, a piece of cheesecake on a skewer then dipped in chocolate! 

Cheesecake on a stick, dipped in chocolate
Take a break inside some of the buildings and see if you can find the indoor corn stalks, or ride a bucking bull, or look at prize-winning veggies grown by 4H-ers.

Can corn grow indoor?

Ride a bucking bronco

4-H exhibits


Can you find the walking french fry, or the super XXL Pepsi - and what would you do if life gave you lemons?

Super size your Pepsi


Bonus: Can the kids identify this? (below, middle)

And finally, how about a day at the races? Pig races, that is.

Here they are, rounding the bend, and 

And the race begins!

The race to the food bowl