Life-Sized Animal POOP, by John Townsend (Sterling, 2019, $14.99, 48 pp, ages 7-9)
A Big Book of Poop
Author John Townsend has created an educational book that kids will devour. It starts out small and gets bigger and bigger until the last animal, Tyrannosaurus Rex' poop is shown to be
Nose Work Handler: Foundation to Finesse, by Fred Helfers (Dogwise Distributor, 2017, 144 pp, $28.99 paperback)
So, you have just heard about the latest dog sport, Nose Work, and want to find out more about it! Or, you just read a memoir about a Search and Rescue (SAR) dog and want to see if you can train your dog to search and rescue. So, you find a book called Nose Work Handler by Fred Helfers who has decades of training experience.
This reviewer has some experience in the new sport of nose work and even began in the instructor certification path - she finds this book interesting to say the least.
First of all, nose work is the non-professional 'sport' while SAR is for the professional dog. Training methods are the same (positive reinforcement) but pet dogs are in it for fun and enjoyment primarily while the pro-dog must be trained to a much higher level. This reviewer finds Helfers does not get the two mixed up but also doesn't tease out the differences for the novice to understand.
What We Liked
This is a reader-friendly book with not only an index but also a glossary. The detailed table of contents is mirrored in the text to make finding one's way easy.
The large text is a bit amateurish and the text reads more like a text book than an interesting, detailed book - but it is short! For example, the author defines new terms in the body of the book but it would be more memorable if he went into more detail, rather than just defining the term.
Helfers opens the book with 'everything you always wanted to know about your dog's nose but were afraid to ask' (to paraphrase a well-known phrase) with several excellent drawings, but, dear reader, feel free to skip most of this. You do need to at least skim it for a better understanding of our dogs' sense of smell and how sensitive it is.
Also covered is canine body language and its importance, various alerts, leash handling skills, and several drills for the team of you and your dog, but, even though each drill states the goal and when in the training cycle it is best used, they are rather advanced. Helfers also does a super job of explaining how to plan a search and afterwards, what to document, as well as training errors. Loved the short mottos in the last chapter that help you remember what to do. Also, a good reference section.
So, there is a lot to like in Nose Work Handling, but also a lot that needs work. Although the organization looks impressive, and it is, the book lacks entirely in sticking to either the amateur or the professional. A professional may not be as bored and may be able to discern the finer points while the family pet owner will either be inundated with facts and put the book (and sport) down or will try to do it all and then become frustrated.
All in all, a good editor is needed for the next edition.
To Be of Service, a documentary* by Josh Aronson, 2019, 87 minutes
Whether the title of this documentary refers to those who went to war or to the dogs who help save them when they returned home, this is a striking film, long overdue - fascinating, educational, and yes, you may even shed a tear.
To Be of Service
Follow several veterans from across the nation as they explain their PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), and how it came about, how it affected both them and their family, and how their service dog (SD) changed their life. Follow the five SD organizations who trained the dogs to save a life.
One soldier -
Greg,
Phil lost a leg in a helicopter accident and still has nightmares but along with his successor SD Champ (short for Champagne), he takes life one day at a time. Champ licks him awake when he has a nightmare.
And, perhaps because of Josh Aronson's To Be of Service, the VA now provides service dogs to veterans, a change that has been a long time in coming. Although it is just a pilot program, it will change the lives of many and the hope is that it will become permanent.
(photo credits: Josh Aronson)
*currently on Netflix
Santa Paws, by Nicholas Edwards* (Scholastic, 1995, $4.50, 151 pp, ages 9-12)
First in a series of six young adult books by Nicholas Edwards (and continued by Kris Edwards) about one lucky but homeless pup, Santa Paws** reminds us of the Old West cowboy hero who "handles" the bad guy and then rides off alone, into the sunset.
Lucky and Homeless in the same sentence?
Our pup is cold and hungry and all alone. Where did his mom and littermates go***? Regardless, the young pup ventures out into the town of Oceanport to find food - and a home. Good people set out plates of leftovers but the humans also get into trouble and have to be bailed out by the young homeless pup who, then shy and fearful, runs away, still cold and hungry.
Like Robin Hood or Forrest Gump, our pup does good deeds, even saves lives but a home and family and a boy to play with still elude him.
How many times must he be a hero before he finally finds his forever home?
This reviewer can't wait to read the rest of the series and believes it would make and excellent movie!
------------------------
Even adults will tear up at some of the situations our reluctant hero manages to turn around.
*actually Ellen Emerson White
**not the Santa Buddies story nor the one by Laurien Berenson
***they were picked up by Animal Control and taken to the town animal shelter to await adoption in a warm safe place
Santa Paws Comes Home
Santa Paws to the Rescue
Santa Paws, Our Hero
Santa Paws and the New Puppy
Nobody Gets Out Alive, by Leigh Newman (Scribner, 2022, $26.99, 278 pp)
With eight short stories about women in modern-day Alaska, one wonders why the title story is number three. In some anthologies, it would be the first story, or the last, or not at all. Perhaps for Nobody Gets Out Alive, it may just be the luck of the draw.
The Best Part!
The best part of Nobody is the cover illustration! I simply love it! With colors of orange and yellow, and a bit of green tossed in, the very striking cover reminds one of army boots perhaps, as the illustration is a shoe print, but a shoe print with a paw print and two (probably) women - one with a heavy back pack and one with a fur anorak (parka with a hood lined with fur). And, if you look carefully at the boot print you may just see a wolf. So, the book is a collection of stories about women in the wilderness in winter, with a dog or two thrown in?
I Beg to Differ
Starred by Kirkus, Publishers Weekly and Booklist, Nobody also was long-listed for the National Book Award. Plus, it is a Most Anticipated Book by Vogue, Lit Hub, Oprah Daily and The Millions. Although this history is not exceptional, it is quite impressive at first sight.
However, I beg to differ. Even though author Leigh Newman is adept at dialogue and funny to boot, we don't really get to know the characters and the plots are weak, so much so that I didn't finish the book, though I did read about 25% of the stories. I realize I may have missed some great ones in the remaining six but I didn't want to wade through any more tedium.
Your view may differ.
Newman does, however, paint a realistic picture of Alaska (Anchorage) and even mentions my hometown! (Spokane, Washington) in the first selection, of a young girl whose mother left. In another, "High Jinks," fourth- and fifth-grade girls go river camping with their fathers, flown in by private plane.
Nobody's Pilgrims, by Sergio Troncoso (Cinco Puntos Press, 2022, 278 pp, $17.95)
Not Your Usual Road Trip Story
Here we have three "pilgrims," three 17-year-old kids on a road trip, but not your usual road trip. They have "taken" a nice truck and are driving from Texas to Missouri to Connecticut. Why? Several reasons, one being that that state seems beautiful with its autumn colors and cooler weather.
As for the truck, it may be hiding something illegal because the kids are being hunted, inadvertently, with the innocent families' help.
As for why they left Texas and Missouri, one wants to get away from an abusive extended family, one wants to escape a small town and living with her brother's girlfriend with whom she doesn't get along, and one is undocumented, so they have to stay off the radar.
And we have one girl and two boys. . . .
How is Your Spanish?
This reviewer's knowledge of Spanish is less than rudimentary, having taking one class many years ago, but I did recognize some words and could guess at others, except for the whole sentences. In other words, readers with a knowledge of migrant workers or undocumented Mexicans might feel right at home in Pilgrims while others will learn much about another way of surviving.
Presaging COVID?
Is it drugs that cause the kids to travel so fast and secretively or is it something worse? What could be worse than drugs in a book written before COVID? Have you heard of Marburg? Regardless, the bad guys are quite believable and good at what they do.
A Fast Read
With the exception of the first 50 or so pages, this was a page-turner. I couldn't wait to start the next chapter to find out if I would be following the teens with hearts of gold who just want a good start at life, or the bad guys, or the family who inadvertently did the wrong things because they believed.
What Would I Change?
I would probably open this tale with an exciting scene in Connecticut and then start at the beginning which I would condense - 50 pages of setting the story loses too many readers. I would redraw the front cover to make the kids look more attractive to draw in more readers, and, finally, I would rewrite the ending rather than leaving it up in the air with the reader expecting the worst.
And I would include a caveat about the physical violence.
Having done all that, Nobody's Pilgrims would make for one on-the-seat-of-your-pants movie!
Television, A Memoir, by Karen Brennan (Four Way Books, 2022, 151 p, $19.95)
Is Television, A Memoir a book of poetry or prose? Or, perhaps poetic prose? Or a collection of prosey poems? Whatever, it is slightly askew.
Regardless, it is fun and sweet with three sections of short chapters - would you believe 76 of them, mostly one-pagers, single paragraphs? However, the author's clever quirkinesses will bring a smile to your face unless you are reading this in public, in which case you will embarrass yourself by laughing out loud.
How long is a short story after all? (or a short short story, if there is such a thing?)
The answer: 1,000 to 10,000 words. That is from 3 to about 30 pages. Pretty long in my opinion. Flash fiction is 500 words or less so perhaps this is a flash fiction book that is not fiction.
Author-poet Karen Brennan tells us the story of her life, from living with three siblings and a mother in a wheelchair (polio) to her own marriages, being on welfare in grad school with a child, living in the desert, and other situations which, if you lived through them, you will think again. For example, how many of us remember the nightly TV news reporting on the number of troops killed in VietNam? Or, where we were when we first watched television? For the author, it was at a neighbors' across the street, a small black and white screen, 15 people watching, standing up. (For me, all I recall is that I was four and my brother was six and our two channels were 4 and 6.)
Two chapters are titled "Television" as depicted on the front cover, which will make sense as you read about the author's children.
You will have your favorites, among a very few you may not understand. I recalled, reading "Bomb Scares," how we would file out into the hall, crouch down against the inner wall and assume the nuclear bomb position, heads tucked. In California, however, the author merely crawled under her desk.
And what about when you are teaching elementary school, and a man enters your classroom, interrupting a lesson. Thinking he is the person to fix the air conditioning unit, you immediately tell him to wait outside, and he does. Of course, you do not recognize Paul Newman, whose son is in your class.
Television is an entertaining, fun book that will cause you to reminisce, if you are old enough. If not, ask your grandmother about things like typewriters!
Side Effects of Wanting, Stories by Mary Salisbury (Mint Hill Books, 2022, 145 pp, $15.95)
Smooth Writing
A good book has a good story, well-written. Side Effects is well-written. Very well-written. Very smooth. Magical. I don't know how good authors do it, but they do, and Mary Salisbury is one of them.
The Stories
A compilation of 16 short stories from 4-10 pages set mostly in Oregon (Medford) but also Colorado and California. Much like a Russian novel with almost too numerous characters to remember, plus a couple of typos, you are suddenly dropped into someone else's life, sometimes mid-conversation. This makes you smile as you figure out who is who, and is the Claire in this story the same Claire as in the earlier story but 20 years later?
One
A 17-year-old girl selects a college out of state and her older brother with his two friends and a dog drive her (her parents do not - a mystery for a later story perhaps?). The boys are mostly stoned: the story is set back in the 70s and when the girl arrives and sees her dorm room, she immediately withdraws from the school and goes to live with her aunt. Wow! Can you identify with any of that?
Other stories are written about different generations of people, about infidelity, with a man as the protagonist - or a woman. Author Mary Salisbury's pen is quite versatile and believable.
PS - many collections of short stories are titled after one story, perhaps the best or most well-known in the collection but not Side Effects. Is this title perhaps related to each of the included stories? Is each about one or more side effects? Or about wanting something? Some of the stories seem to just end as if they are cut off, perhaps for the reader to write the ending.
Joan is Okay, by Weike Wang (Random House, 2022, $27, 224 pp)
The Question and the Answer
When I first saw this cover, I thought the title was Joan is A Okay, perhaps because I am more used to the spelling OK than of Okay.
The question is not "Is This a Good Book?" but "Is Joan Okay?" The answer is for you to determine for yourself (as with all good literature) and you can probably do so well before the end, even as our protagonist, and especially those closest to her, know their answer (especially with the title as a hint). She, however, waffles a bit but those around her never do.
A Different Viewpoint
Joan is Okay has garnered kudos in many prestigious places: The New York Times, The New Yorker, NPR, and The Washington Post, plus it was long-listed for the Andrew Carnegie Medal. However, this reviewer begs to differ.
I have read the kudos and still beg to differ, plus the Amazon 'reviews' are all over the place. I usually give a book at least a 50-page read if I'm not mesmerized by it before then, but Joan was hard to do this for. It was fairly easy reading and fast and because I kept waiting for a plot, I did keep reading until the end. And, actually, the last 40 pages or so did keep my attention. However, it was a long read.
A Plotless Plot
A fascinating premise: a 30-something successful woman physician in a New York City hospital, of Chinese origin, is pressured by her even more financially successful brother (and their mother) to move closer to him, not work so hard, and settle down to raise a family.
And Another. . . .
Although I was sent Joan is Okay, I was more intrigued by Wang's earlier novel, Chemistry: A Novel because it was written with me in mind a bit more than Joan. However, I think I will check Chemistry out of the library to skim it before deciding to purchase it. What about you?
The Running Body: A Memoir, by Emily Pifer (Autumn House Press, 2022, 216 pp, $17.95 paperback)
The Plot or Lack Thereof
Not divided into chapters but into sections, The Running Body is a most unusual book - little in words but big in philosophy.
Questions to Muse About
What makes an athlete? Why is one sport more suited for a certain person than another? Or you more suited for one sport than another? And what if you never find the sport that is meant for you? Do you then become a pentathlete or decathlete - or a spectator?
Does the author really love running, or just love what it does to her body and how it makes her body look? Did she become a long-distance runner because she idolized how female runners looked - thin in all the right places? Is she borderline anorexic? Where is that fine line drawn? Karen Carpenter's disease took a toll on her heart and Emily Pifer's constant striving takes a toll on her skeletal system yet she still manages to live the college experience and reside in Ohio and West Virginia and New York and Wyoming and Oregon.
What is disciplined eating for an athlete? Where is the line between pleasure (a high) and pain? Can one eat too little? Too much? And what about when other athletes and your coach remark on your seeming weight loss? What's more important: to look like a runner, to have a running body, or to be a successful winning runner? And then, you graduate.
Pain. Discipline. Overtraining. Undereating. Why do so many athletes incur injuries? What is the cost?
Style
Now a PhD candidate, author Emily Pifer writes in stream of consciousness style about how she finally found her sport and what it did to her - good and bad. Though a female college athlete, she relates college experiences a university football star also lives and explains the consequences, but those, mostly from a coed's point of view, focused on how her body looks and the striving for perfection.
Some of the sentences don't make a lot of sense alone but, strung together, they do. And Pifer keeps skipping around her life, back and forth, requiring some readers to stop and ponder, but is it really important?
I kept reading, not to see how the plot would unravel but because I was mesmerized - the flow reminded me of honey yet the sentences would repeat themselves, would be fragments, would be otherwise unique.
Title? Cover Illustration?
You will 'get' the title, but the cover is food for thought. . . .
Soar: The Incredible Journey of Hendrix and Ryder, by Letitia Burton (Southport Press, 212 pp, $14.99, 2022)
Possible DogEvals Book of the Year for 2022!
A new classic in the vein of Charlotte's Web, Soar will touch your heart, grab it hard and never let it go, whether you are big or little.
The Story, Warm and Fuzzy, Yet Also Exciting
Author Letitia Burton explains that she uses poetic license in penning a better story than reality would dictate but she does so in an appendix, as she writes the real story of ospreys in the book when brother ospreys stay together through thick and thin on their way south (but in real life, they migrate one by one). Burton also is just a tiny bit creative with the spider's lifestyle even though parasites often travel on ospreys like our spider-hero does.
The book opens with young osprey brothers still in the nest as their parents get ready to migrate south for the winter alone - before the youngsters even learn to fly on their own. Ryder is assertive and flies sooner than his brother Hendrix, who bears the brunt of some bullying from other youngsters of the osprey kind.
Gramps is also a major character throughout our story as he stays north late in the season to impart his wisdom to the younger set, preparing them and educating them to survive the trip south.
The Incredible Journey
We have a love interest and plenty of near misses - adventures and mishaps that the brothers and the spider-friend must overcome on the way south as they also reach a deeper understanding of family, and love, and brotherly support. And, yes, it is a tear-jerker, a keeper, with accidents and storms and a race, but also with beautiful word-scenes of flying and soaring on the wind. And the love of family.
Writing Style
The author has a lovely way of including us in the story in the guise of Hendrix with all his foibles. We learn that Gramps tells him everyone has a special gift, a superpower: that his brother is brave, but he, Hendrix, can learn to read the weather which is so necessary on flights.
What Would We Change?
We might prefer a cuter illustration of the ospreys to grab a reader's attention in the bookstore. And we are surprised Soar has not yet won any major writing awards. Hopefully that will change as we predict it will remain a new classic for a long time to come.
Beyond Diversity: 12 Non-obvious Ways to Build a More Inclusive World, by Rohit Bhargava and Jennifer Brown (Ideapress Publishing, 268pp, $17.79, 2021)
If I Were the Ocean, I'd Carry You Home, by Peter Hsu (Red Hen Press, 2022, $14.95 paperback, 178 pp)
A refreshing book, I thought - a collection of short stories that this reviewer started from the beginning rather than picking and choosing which story to read next, based on the title. The titles are intriguing and the tone of several stories is not exactly threatening or scary but placed me back in my childhood as I reminisced the feelings and thoughts I once had.
Author Peter Hsu captures the essence of childhood, be it a little girl or little boy, precisely: the actions, the thoughts, the minds wandering here and there, wondering what it's like to be all grown up.
Part of "Pluto," the first of a dozen, in which a boy runs around a track with his dad - a track with nine lanes so they can get in 2 1/4 miles and after each lap, the boy says "Lane one, Mercury," then "Lane two, Venus," and on down the list of planets until he talks about his science project - Pluto.
And then there is "From the Brush, A Frantic Rustling" about a little girl and a man who lets her shoot his rifle. She outshoots him (rather unlikely, says this former Army soldier) by a long shot until the end - which doesn't end as I had imagined.
All in all, another look at your childhood with the sights, smells, and thoughts you remember, as well as incredibly unique comparisons, like the pro basketball games.
Life and Death at Zoo Arroyo, A Witherston Murder Mystery, by Betty Jean Craige (Luminare Press, $13.95 paperback, 332 pp)
Wow!
The year is 2030.
The place is a small southeastern zoo-sanctuary run by the Arroyo twin brothers, a veterinarian and a PhD geneticist, where they rehabilitate wild animals and seek to increase the numbers of species in dangerous decline.
The characters are almost too numerous to remember (much like an overly long Russian historical novel), many of whom seem to be related and Hispanic, thus making Life and Death at Zoo Arroyo a cultural novel that also educates (Peru and various musical instruments, especially).
The protagonists (good guys) are a 20-something scientist with a masters degree, the veterinarian twin and others who turn out to be bad guys who kidnap wild animals and sell them to private zoos, among other related nefarious acts.
The reader will learn the difference between a mosaic and a chimera (biological, actually genetic, terms) and will also learn how to take copious notes in order to solve a murder or two.
The author is a retired literature professor who writes successfully about many different subjects, including her relationship with a grey parrot, Cosmo.
The Book
Arroyo is the sixth Witherston murder mystery but the first in a series of mysteries starring the twins at their animal zoo-sanctuary. The previous titles centered around the small town (4,000 population) of Witherston and the twins' parents' generation of characters. Some of the same characters appear in each book so reading them in order may help but is most certainly not necessary.
The Plot
We have one shooting after another, an international biology prize with a 5 million dollar award, and three generations of humans, as well as wild animals with human names whom we encounter and almost get to know.
Style
In four parts, Arroyo begins with pages and pages of conversation, written almost choppily, apparently for the younger reader. Part two brings us to a narrator who is much more adult-like, so that Arroyo seems to have been written by two authors with different styles. Thank goodness for larger than usual print, however, because this is a long book and convoluted, but you will want to read it all in one day as the suspense mounts.
Unbelonging, by Gayatri Sethi (Mango & Marigold Press, $16.95, paperback, 2021)
Is this a book of poetry, an autobiography or a text book?
The answer depends on who the reader is.
Unbelonging grows on you as you learn more about the author in every word poem, in every chapter - even as she repeats parts of her story, they do not bore you because each time it is creatively unique. As a matter of fact, I have never read or even seen a book like this. Words run not only left to right but in a circle, at times - or they make waves.
Does author Gayatri Sethi belong in South Asia? Does she belong in Africa? The United States? Like immigrants or expatriates or refugees or even first generation Americans, Dr. Sethi has a hard time finding where she belongs. Part of her lies in Pakistan; another part, in Botswana. And yet she quotes James Baldwin and Toni Morrison and W. E. B. DeBois. Does this strike you odd?
Unbelonging is also part workbook and challenges the reader to add his own words and thoughts - and to grow by doing so. For only by walking a mile in his moccasins, can you truly approximate understanding.
Perhaps the author is a citizen of the world. She lives, however, in America because her children live here and this is their home (and she has taught Comparative Literature here for 20 years). By reading Unbelonging, you will come away with a glimpse of a better you, a more understanding you.
Julie's Big Day, by Pauli Libsohn (Page Publishing. 2022, 88 pp, $26.95 hardcopy)
What could a big day be, other than a birthday?
A sixth birthday!
And Julie's sixth is unbelievable - truly a dream come true with all her wishes fulfilled, plenty of birthday cake for breakfast, lunch and supper and her dream presents, all celebrated with her wonderful doting parents who fulfill her every wish, and with her favorite 'people' - the six dolls with names* that nearly come to life in conversation.
Every child should have such a doting family and friends (even if they are not too lively!).
Julie's Big Day is a big book, rather long for a chapter book, especially for 6-year-old girls but with a unique plot like all of Pauli Rose Libsohn's. As a matter of fact, the author actually has lived all or part of all her many book plots!
A Pink Book Full of Lovely Surprises
All little girls will love the pink in Julie's book - from her always pink hair ribbons to her bedroom in a former barn loft (where the author actually had a wonderful bedroom - you cannot make this stuff up!). Her six dolls live in the six former chicken coops, now turned into luxurious doll houses.
Will Julie Get Her Pink Convertible?
Most of all, Julie wants a pink convertible so she can take all her dolls for a ride at once. What a surprise to find a cake in the shape of a pink convertible, but will Julie get her wish, her dream of a real pink convertible she can drive and that smells like pink bubblegum? If she gets the car, where will she park it - in the garage with her mom's car or in the other garage with her dad's car?
And Finally, A Lesson to be Learned
Even a perfect day with perfect parents and perfect doll-friends and perfect presents must have a lesson learned. Even perfect little girls can become more perfect. After reading this book, do you remember what the lesson was that Julie learned?
Writing Style
The author's writing style and books are unique - rather difficult for first readers in having big (8 1/2 by 11) pages full of words but some pages are illustrations only - a good respite - and long, but splotched with text in all caps to emphasize at first. After a while, this reading and guessing why becomes tedious and the reader has many questions as to why some words and not others are capped. The plot is sugary sweet and little boys may not be able to read the entire book.
*Adorable Annabel, Bubbling Betty, Shy Charlotte, Delighted Daisy, Elegant Ella and Fashionista Florrie, of course
Penelope Causes AN UPROAR, by Pauli Libsohn (Page Publishing. 2021, 66 pp, $22.95 hardcopy)
Large-Sized Chapter Book (8 1/2 by 11) About a Little Girl
Penelope is a little girl who loves bubble baths, pajamas with feet (and a zipper and a snap) and bedtime stories. She has lots of little girl friends and a big imagination. Even some of her words are big - they are made of big letters LIKE THIS. Penelope is a leader who causes quite an uproar in her neighborhood.
Prolific Author
Pauli Rose Libsohn, author of 8 children's books about Penelope* plus a slew of others totaling 13, including a Julie book (see the next review), has written a long but exciting and spell-binding book about leadership, acting and loving going to bed at night. She calls a meeting of her friends and their parents and they all go out shopping for bubble bath, pajamas with feet and books of bedtime stories, JUST LIKE PENELOPE'S.
A Big Secret and a Big Uproar
Penelope has a big secret that your youngsters will read about plus they will visit The Magic Circle Bookshoppe with Miss Kirkle, the Bath TO Shower store with Mrs. Twizzle, and Jammies and Such with Miss Winnie.
But the Most Fun
Little girl readers will notice that the girls in the book are dressed like their moms in matching colored polka dot dresses. There is a lot more to notice in the illustrations, some of which span two pages.
A Chapter Book?
Yes, this is a chapter book but it would also make a much more wonderful much shorter book that can be read in one sitting right before bedtime. It is a book about a short day, a brief moment in time, but takes many pages to tell, more than can be read in one sitting, with dense print not often found in a first chapter book about little girls (older girls, yes). It is a dichotomy of a chapter book: a story for 6 year-olds but too many pages for that age.
Unique
Author Libsohn has perfected the unique style of putting many words on a page in all capital letters. At first notice, the reader likes the emphasis but it soon ceases to pique one's interest as to why this word is 'capped' and not that one. Wondering can be exhausting.
*my favorite will probably be the one about her half-birthday, something I have celebrated all my life. It is a good excuse to give another birthday present when you forget the real birthday!
Rabbit at the Sliding Door - Chloe's Story, by Denise Branco (Strolling Hills Publishing, 2022, 78 pages, $19.77) A Distinguished Favorite in the 2022 NYC Big Book Award Contest.
Almost a Ten!
Rabbit at the Sliding Door is a lovely book for everyone to keep - to read to children in early grades (short chapters) yet also delivering life lessons to teens and, for adults, a sweet tear-jerker of an evening read. With a heartfelt introduction and an almost overabundance of endorsements, including from "just regular folks," it truly will make you want to adopt a homeless animal - and bunnies are right behind cats and dogs in numbers of shelter animals waiting for a forever home.
The Story
One fine day, a bunny rabbit simply appears on the other side of author Denise Branco's sliding glass door, then hops away only to return for the petunias. She travels between neighboring houses until our author barricades her in the large backyard and offers food and lodging.
What can a wild animal teach a lonely human being?
A little bit apprehensive, you will read this thrilling tale faster and faster with dread but eventually slow down to a nice pace as you realize that Chloe Bunny is safe - you are ready to learn about backyard bunnies and what stresses them as well as their favorite foods, some of which are surprises.
What Price Freedom?
Is a life of ease with plenty of food and water, good shelter and enough companionship worth more or less than an adventurous yet sometimes frightening and possibly shorter life in a larger world with a variety of experiences?
Pets Enrich Our Lives, But Who Adopted Who?
Can you have a pet who is a wild animal, never coming into your house, allowing touch but not handling from only two people? The lesson to leave wildlife alone is one that wild animals teach us but not all of us learn. The closest they let the relationship grow may be to follow you around your yard as you work. Sometimes that is the same with people and we have to accept what we are offered, on their terms. And thank them for that.
Author Branco knows that living indoors may have prolonged Bunny Chloe's life, but left it less rewarding. A backyard sanctuary may be just as rewarding as total freedom, or close to it, without the danger from predators or cars and with a smorgasbord of edibles delivered twice a day.
What Would I Change?
Perhaps I might make the bunny photos introducing each of the 11 unnumbered chapters larger (there were a couple that almost had Chloe hidden in the background) and left-justify the table of contents but these are minor modifications. I would begin the tale with a whopper of an opening sentence, also, to fit this bunny tale.
Permanent Footprints on Your Heart
Whatever happens and for how long, an animal, even a wild one can communicate with us and leave lessons for those who are ready to learn. Rabbit is a book you will not soon forget.
Waggin' Tales, A Red and Rover Cartoon Collection, by Brian Basset (Andrews McMeel, $10.95, 2004, 127 pp)
Everyone has a canine cartoon book, right? At least a Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Woodstock coffee table book. DogEvals also highly recommends Waggin' Tales with Red and Rover. And Fun's Never Over.
Red and Rover: A Boy, A Dog, A Time, A Feeling.
Rover, of course, is a dog and Red is his 10 year-old sidekick of a boy, Red. Like Charlie Brown and Snoopy, Red and Rover can talk to each other as the dog helps the boy grow up. Red (the one with the red hair and freckles - Rover is a blond) can't wait to grow up because, as he explains to his best friend dog, that means his big brother will also grow up and go off to college - then Red will get his room! What younger sibling has not thought of that!
How It All Started
An editorial cartoonist in Seattle who evolved into a comic strip cartoonist, Brian Basset began drawing the cartoon cover for the annual Seattle Humane Society fundraiser brochure which then naturally morphed into the "a boy and his dog" comic strip. Is it autobiographical? Perhaps.
Basset created the Red and Rover daily comics in 2000 in the Washington Post ("Democracy Dies in Darkness") but they are set in the 60s and 70s - remember when kids went barefoot in the summer and rode their bikes everywhere, coming home only for lunch and when it got dark out?
Three years later, in 2003, Red and Rover won the prestigious Reuben Award for the Best Newspaper Comic Strip of the Year! And to think we here at DogEvals didn't discover the boy and his dog until 2022! However, we quickly made up the time. Basset has published three books so far.
A Boy and His Dog
Son of a cartoonist and life-long lover of dogs, Basset was destined to show us the lighter side of growing up with a dog. And, yes, he also had red hair and freckles as a kid. His comic dog, Rover, however, is neither a basset nor the German Shepherd Dog of his childhood, but a sort of yellow lab and with such an original name (Rover), you just gotta love this duo!
The Verdict: We love this book and love both Red and Rover!
Small Paws: Essential Behavior and Training Tips for Young Puppies and Small Dogs, by Sarah Whitehead (Dogwise Publishing, 2018, 17 pp, $2.95)
Perhaps the Best $3 Book to Give All Your Dog Training Clients!
I include this little book in many of my dog training packets and my clients love it as much as I do. You can read it in one sitting but you will also use a highlighter and even dog trainers will learn quite a bit.
So, why an entire book(let) on small dogs anyway? British author Sarah Whitehead tells us that small dogs are not just big dogs in miniature. They have their own special needs and can squeeze through the smallest hole in a fence: hence, consider putting your small dog on a long line in the backyard even when you are interacting with him.
About Housetraining
Have you even considered how low to the ground little dogs are? How, on dew-covered grass, they can quickly get their tummies uncomfortably cold and wet, how running to the back door to go out takes more steps and more time on a full bladder, and how much smaller their bladders actually are?
To Carry or Not To Carry. That is the Question. When is Your Decision.
The best training steps we have ever seen can be found on page 5, Pick-up Tips - well worth the cost of the booklet! Use two hands - one to lift and one to support. Become cognizant of your dog's subtle weight shifts - they are telling you something.
Whitehead knows little dogs and people who have little dogs. She states the pros and cons of carrying and then leaves it up to you and your little dog - she is on your side even as you are on your dog's side.
And the best list of Red Flags and Green Flags ever, can be found on page 10 to help you recognize stress signals and OK signals.
Have you considered training on the floor to make your little dog more comfortable? Do you know what to do about the cat?
What We Would Change
On page 3, an illustration of a dog on a back-attach harness simply doesn't fit in with all the other ideas in this slim volume. We would like a more clear definition of trigger and added emphasis on feeding animals apart - geographically, not temporally.
Independence Training to Prevent Separation Anxiety
Whitehead also shares what to do to avoid over-bonding with your dog and, finally, she recommends asking people to ignore your little one at first, rather than rushing him, to give him a chance to acclimate to new people which will give him confidence when they 'reach out and touch someone' - your little dog!
Other Books
Whitehead and Dogwise have also put together booklets on puppies,
God's Perfectly Awesome Idea: Genesis One, by Claudia West (Heyer Publishing, 2020, 40 pp, $17.95, ages 4-8)
A Perfectly Awesome Book
As author Claudia West (Grammy Giggles) says, Bible stories should never be boring and this one certainly isn't! Big enough to be easily held in little hands with detailed illustrations in which little ones can search for the objects depicted in the words, God's Perfectly Awesome Idea: Genesis One is third in a series.
A children's book to remember must have a good story and memorable illustrations that help one to remember the story. Artist Elettra Cudignotto has drawn as many objects on a page as possible which are depicted in the story so it's fun to both see and hear the words and see and remember the story.
And finally, many children's book are rhyming but only a few rhyme seamlessly, a la Dr. Seuss. This book, taking us through the first chapter of Genesis, day by day humorously, tells the story in words that naturally rhyme - not an easy task for an author!
The other books in the series include The Zoo On the Seas (Noah)
Her Hidden Genius, by Marie Benedict (Sourcebooks, 283 pp, 2022, $26.99)
Rosalind, not Rosy
Every biologist knows of Rosalind Franklin, the woman crystallographer with a PhD in Physical Chemistry who 'helped' discover the molecular structure of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), the chemical compound we study in college genetics courses.
The year was 1953 - the Nobel Prize was later awarded to three male discoverer-scientists, in 1962, but not to Franklin. She had died four years previously possibly due to radiation she used regularly in the lab. At that time, it was still not unequivocal that radiation could have such deleterious results and, in addition, many scientists did not like having to wear a radiation indicator or adhere to strict protocols that slowed them down. Franklin was no exception (although cancer did seem to run in her family as well).
Two Kinds of Scientists
Some scientists are inordinately meticulous and do not communicate discoveries until they have plenty of unambiguous proof while others are theorists who make great mental leaps of faith and publish before they are 100% certain. Watson and Crick may have been the latter while Franklin was most likely a member of the former type of scientists and that may have led to her unhappiness and lack of success, in addition to being female in a world populated with males.
But, perhaps even more ammunition for a novel or creative nonfiction, is the fact that in the 40s and the 50s and the 60s, not all women scientists were fully accepted by their male peers. Author Marie Benedict has again written a scintillating scientific novel - scintillating in that this reviewer knew the story of the discovery of DNA's structure from The Double Helix by James Watson and from scuttlebutt in graduate school, yet raced to finish the book to find out the why and how it happened (the what was already known).
Major characters include James Watson, an American post-doc; James Crick, a British researcher; Maurice Wilkins, an administrative scientist; and Rosalind Franklin, a British researcher who was skilled in technique; with minor characters being Linus Pauling, a researcher in the US, and his son, Peter, a scientist who comes to England.
The Race is On!
So close and yet so far. Everyone is theorizing the structure of DNA but must prove it with data that is just now being obtained. Watson and Crick build a 2-stranded helical model after Pauling's 3-stranded helix is found to not explain all the data. But could Watson and Crick be sure they had it right, before publishing? One theory has Watson and Crick visiting Wilkins and spying the photographic proof lying on Franklin's desk in plain sight during a lunch break.
Others think Franklin (or her student), who took the photo, simply didn't recognize what she saw.
And others still believe Franklin had written the paper with her work as proof of the structure but had not yet submitted the paper for peer review. Nevertheless, other related papers of hers were also published in the journal issue that published the Watson-Crick model.
You will learn that it actually (or not) took about seven years for the scientific community to fully accept the DNA structure.
And the Answer is. . . .
To find out why Franklin was not awarded the Nobel Prize in 1962 with Watson, Crick and Wilkins, you have to read the book. It is a page-turner even if you know how it ends.
Author's Style
Whichever version you believe of the discovery of the structure of DNA, it is wise to read both versions - Watson's Double Helix (non-fiction) and this book, Benedict's novel, Her Hidden Genius. As a matter of fact, I usually recommend Watson's book and sometimes require it in my college biology classes but I am also considering adding Benedict's novel.
This reviewer was mesmerized by The Only Woman in the Room, about Hedy Lamar and her escape from Nazi Germany and invention of frequency hopping which led to the GPS systems we all know and use. (Review here.)
Nevertheless, reading The Double Helix and Her Hidden Genius might provide great discussions for a college class of non-biology majors (and although Her Hidden Genius has a few explanations of the science, they are not crucial to the story.)
Bax and his Bubbles: All About a Kid and his Thoughts, by Sonia Amin (Sanasamal, 2020, $19.99, 28 pp, ages 4-8)
How Can Bubbles Help a Kid?
We'e all seen comic strips where the characters 'speak' using speech bubbles (words appearing in bubbles above them yet connected to or pointing to them) but have you heard of thought bubbles?
Bax thought bubbles were just regular bubbles, but thought bubbles are special - they are regular bubbles, but their insides hold the words that Bax is thinking! Everything he says or does starts with a thought inside his head.
Pre-Reading, During Reading and Post-Reading Questions
After reading the story about Bax and his bubbles and discussing the questions at the back of the book, kids will understand how using thought bubbles can transform the way they think and behave. They will learn which thoughts and which thought bubbles are angry or mean ones and which ones are happy or excited thoughts. But, more importantly, young readers will learn how to release negative thought bubbles but keep the happy ones.
Read and Listen
Sarah Ferguson reads Bax and his Bubbles on Youtube's "Fergie and Friends." Youngsters can also read the Bax book along with Accelerated Reading ReadingBooks4U here. Budding young artists can even tune in to Story Time with Andy and not only read along but also draw along!
The Ultimate Eid Gift, by Reem Alajmi (Mascot Books, 2022, $18.95, 38 pp [HC], ages 4-7)
Welcome!
The Ultimate Eid Gift's front cover is welcoming for all, showing family members doing individual actions through the different windows of their home. Mom and Son are baking sweets and Daughter is making decorations for Dad to hang. The font door is open, adding to the warm ambiance of the upcoming celebration.
The holy month of Ramadan, the ninth month, is ending and tomorrow is Eid, a time to celebrate and to give. And Aminah and Ali, being children, can't wait to see what gifts they will receive - hopefully the blue toy car (and prayer rug) that Ali is asking for and the beautiful prayer dress with flowers for Aminah.
Illustrations Make the Book
Each page is full of details such as stars and moons, from the illustrator, Vanessa Alexandre, starting with the front cover and continuing on in a prayer rug, the cover to a wastebasket, from lamps to party favors on the table. Children will spend time identifying toys and bunny slippers, pictures on the walls, and books on the floor, looking just like their home.
Lessons in Accepting Others
The Ultimate Eid Gift is a book for elementary school aged children, with new words to remember as they live through a holiday much like Christmas or Hanukkah yet at the same time different.
And for Parents
The final pages give ideas for parents to use in keeping their children focused on the lessons of Eid.
The Christmas Gift: A Mia and Co. Adventure, by Mary Archer (Deep Waters Books, 2021, 50 pp, $19.99)
No, it's not too early!
Foster kids Mia, Cece, Luis and little Grady are planning a special Christmas gift for their foster parents: they are going to put on a Christmas play replete with the birth of Jesus and the arrival of the Three Wise Men.
But how can they depict the Christmas story without sheep or angels or even a manger, let alone the Three Wise Men? That calls for a strategic planning meeting to rack their brains.
Creative Kids
Enter the superheroes! The kids taped a couple of their superheroes to Cece's arms to make the Three Wise Men (with her being the third). Then the four creative kids came up with hot dogs and pennies for the 'franks and cents'!
They even taped unsuspecting stuffed animals to Grady so he could be a flock of sheep!
The Play's the Thing!
The foster kids knew the story well and invited their next-door neighbors to see and hear about the best Christmas gift ever!
To the kids' foster parents, the best Christmas gift was the play their children put on for them. And for both the kids and the parents, the best Christmas gift ever is Jesus.
For more ideas, check in the back of the book!
Canine Enrichment Real World Workbook, by Allie Bender and Emily Strong (Dogwise, 2022, $19.95, 76 pp) (available at Dogwise.com)
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Well Worth Waiting For!
Dog training, dog behavior and even some dog memoir books are continually being written, rewritten or updated: as a result, many dog professionals and just plain regular dog folk will wait until a new book has been out for a few months, then splurge on a whole slew of those titles all at once! A few trainers I know who have been waiting on Canine Enrichment for the Real World: Making it a Part of Your Dog's Daily Life (the 'text' book) now simply have to purchase it since the workbook just came out, too - a two-fer. A Dogwise book is always good (especially when edited by Adrienne Hovey) and this enrichment workbook is no exception. Well worth waiting for!
About the size of a piece of paper (8 1/2 by 11 inches) this slim volume (76 pages) has the same cover photo as the text book but the workbook is 'purple-ish' while the text book is a teal blue-ish. Written to supplement the text which came out three years ago, the workbook is an adjunct to the text - or it can be used alone (but best after thoroughly digesting the text book).
Years ago, perhaps in the early 2000's the 'sexy' topic for dog professionals was aggression, then after a few years, conferences on that subject morphed into the world of puppies, followed by service dogs, reactivity and tricks. Now we have enrichment. Not only has enrichment caught on rapidly and expanded nearly exponentially but authors Allie Bender and Emily Strong have advanced the subject and used science to explain how enrichment can help solve a world of woes.
Style
Written in a friendly conversational tone with explanations (advancements) of what Bender and Strong learned from writing their text book, the workbook condenses and organizes the most important elements and still follows the main themes of the text book, one being 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it.' The authors acknowledge that not all the steps will be needed with every dog - thank goodness, for the details and organization are stupendous. However, the case study near the end of the workbook could use more written explanation and descriptions, just as the excellent treatment of short example descriptions in the previous chapter, Troubleshooting.
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What We Love!
We love the approach of breaking things down into bite-sized pieces so our clients are not overwhelmed (splitting rather than chunking).
We foresee a weekend seminar on using enrichment to help with behavior issues. We can't wait! This new methodology or at least the use of different methods, games and exercises in a new and innovative manner seems rather complex at first glance so a thorough in-person explanation will help many trainers implement these new enrichment protocols.
What We Would Change. . . .
We, or at least one of us, would have liked less white space and a font size that is a tad bit larger. Also, the concept of agency totally bypassed one of us and needs more explanation and examples, though perhaps it is covered well in the text book that one of us has misplaced so has not yet read.
A Stand-Alone? A Workbook?
Dog trainers, inundated with 'new' books often wait when a new title comes out, until the corresponding workbook appears on the scene and then purchase that less expensive and shorter version in the hopes that 'that'll do.' Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes the workbook serves as a stand-alone as well as an adjunct to the text. One of our two reviewers (the one who has not read the text book) had a difficult time without the prior knowledge found in the original text and believes the Workbook does not easily stand alone.
And now, we come to the topic of a workbook itself. We were expecting numerous reproducible pages to fill in with client information: Bender and Strong provide only four worksheets that can be xeroxed but these four pages encompass the necessary ones.
And finally, with 14 different categories of enrichment, one of us is going to re-arrange the categories into groups/subcategories to be able to remember them more easily.
Summary
In summary, Bender and Strong have advanced a new approach to solving behavior issues that incorporate enrichment. This is a book well worth having in your toolbox.
Take-Away Lesson
"Enrichment is about meeting their [the dogs'] needs, so they are physically, behaviorally and emotionally healthy enough to perform species-typical behaviors in safe, healthy and appropriate ways." (page 46)
