Book Revew: Dogwinks (True Godwink Stories of Dogs and the Blessings they Bring)

Dogwinks: True Godwink Stories of Dogs and the Blessings they Bring, by Squire Rushnell and Louise Duart (Howard Books, 2020, $19.99, 285pp HB) Review by Skye Anderson.

"Some of the greatest gifts. . . come in furry packages."(p. 38-9)

Dogwinks is a small pocket-sized book you can put in a pocket of your cargo pants - with 20 short stories, beginning with the famous "Rudy" which has been made into a movie* and can be found on Netflix.

Reckless is the little Pit Bull lost in Hurricane Sandy, Keller is deaf and blind like Helen Keller, and then we have a Norman Rockwell story of a golden retriever, the life-saving Bullet, his human baby. and 911. "The dog they saved, saved their son." (p. 89)

Each story is told, in part, from the dog's point of view, and ends with reflections on the meaning of the story's lesson. Could dogs really be sent down from above for a purpose?

The best thing about reading a collection of short stories is that you can read them in any order. They may also be of varying lengths and, unfortunately, of spotty quality. This one is not.

Hearts Abound

Joy and unconditional love permeate the families and their dogs as their stories are depicted with life and loss.

One dog, Faith, even has her own book, and appeared on Oprah, Montel and other TV shows and in articles. Read about her in Wikipedia, too.

To find out more about Godwinks and Dogwinks, read this book - over and over again!

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

*"Rescued by Ruby"

Book Review: Behind Enemy Lines: Under Fire in the Middle East (a Scholastic book)

Behind Enemy Lines: Under Fire in the Middle East, by Bill Doyle (Scholastic, 2011, $3.99, 136pp PB) Review by Skye Anderson  

Navy, Army, Air Force and civilians - men and women - human IEDs, and medics in Iraq, and running out of rice, familiar places in Afghanistan, and teachers and bribes in Pakistan (the first chapters I read were the Afghanistan stories and one even mentioned where I had been stationed!) 

You can read Behind Enemy Lines in any order - it takes place from the 90s into the 2000s and each story you read is more exciting than the last so you will read the remainder faster and faster.

You will read a short version of Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell which later became the book Lone Survivor.

The last story I had the courage to read was about three dogs on a US military base in Afghanistan but I'll let you find out what happened, if you can read through your tears. Again.

The style is written for a young boy (or girl) with the words that might go through the mind of a soldier in danger - afterwards. To make the situation more dangerous and exciting and heroic, that is. But reality is as exciting as it needs to be. 

Book Review: Christian The Lion (book, movie, event)(OT)

Christian the Lion, by Anthony Bourke and John Rendall (Random House, $14.99HB, 2009, 128pp, ages 8-12) Review by Skye Anderson

I picked up Christian the Lion and devoured it, knowing it was only representative of all the books and documentaries out there about this famous lion - and even a video of the reunion two years after Christian was set free in Africa. Who has not heard of Christian or of Elsa, the star of Born Free (also a movie in 1966), Living Free and Forever Free?

But do you know the rest of the story?

In 1969, two Australians went shopping in Harrod's, a London department store, and met a lion cub. Wanting to give  him a better life, they purchased Christian and kept him for a few months, before moving to the British countryside and eventually, with the help of George Adamson (who had lived with Elsa a few years previously), transported the lion to Kenya, Africa, and helped acclimate him to the life of a wild lion.

This particular book, written for children, by the two Australians is an eye-opener and nearly a tear-jerker, relating the close bond between this animal and his two humans. They played together and eventually the men decided it would not be fair to keep a lion in any sort of captivity, so they made the hard decision.

With an adorable cover photo and ending with facts about lions, three other lions in particular (Aslan, Elsa and The Cowardly Lion) and information about the other four of the Big Five African Animals (leopard, rhino, elephant and Cape Buffalo), this book covers it all. Even though the pages of color photos of mostly Christian don't seem to relate the major events of the three friends this or any book about Christian is bound to be food for thought.

Book Review: Bloomers on Pikes Peak, The Story of Julia Archibald Holmes (Young Adult book)(OT)

Bloomers on Pikes Peak, The Story of Julia Archibald Holmes, by Clarissa Willis (Solander Press, $11.99, 2024, 42 pp, ages 6-10) Review by Skye Anderson

Did you know that women crossing the Plains in the 1800s wore long dresses with hoop skirts? Except for Julia Archibald Holmes, who word shorter skirts with bloomers that permitted ease of movement. She also offered to stand guard at night, like the men did.

The Holmes moved from Canada to Massachusetts to Kansas and eventually Julia ended up in New Mexico. Her family was ahead of its times, being abolitionists, so it is no surprise that Julia was the first woman to scale Pikes Peak!

The illustrations in Bloomers are full-page and the easy to read boldfaced text sometimes appears in washed-out parts of the illustrations, thus making it easy to read over dark colors.

However, this reviewer thought that, although a good book, the title was not representative. Either more details of the climb up Pikes Peak or a title that reflects the entirety of Julia's life would be better. 

Wherever she went, Julia kept a diary, even on her ascent of Pikes Peak. This, and so many other things made Julia, like her family, ahead of the times - she was a suffragette, helped slaves escape on the Underground Railroad, traveled west, and more!

Book Review: Becoming Janet: Finding Myself in the Holocaust (Young Adult Nonfiction)

Becoming Janet: Finding Myself in the Holocaust, by Janet Singer Applefield (Cypress House Publishing, 2024, 180pp, $17.95) Review by Skye Anderson

You are a child.

Imagine being told you no longer have the name your parents gave you but another, along with a story you must memorize to stay alive - even under pressure and in fearful, dangerous situations. And finally, years later, being told to choose another name, a name that helps you fit in with your new life under freedom.

But, along the way, you have been passed from one person to another and very few of them were good people. You are just a little girl and find that the best way to survive is to fit in, to do as you are told regardless of what you are thinking inside. Do this, and you will live. Be obedient above all and try to not be a burden.

This is what happened to Janet during World War II, as her village in Poland was taken over by the Nazis and her Jewish family was split up. Janet was blond which may have saved her, along with moving every so often and being passed to another every so often. At times, in the middle of the night, she would be awakened and told to gather all her belongings, be very quiet, and follow the others.

Becoming Janet is a book young adults will not be able to put down plus they will learn that many people continued after the War to persecute the Jewish.

Infused with photos and the vocabulary and sentence structure of a young girl, Becoming Janet is a book you will not soon forget as it is told from the viewpoint of a child.

Book Review: Piper's Journey Home: The True Story of a Rescue Puppy (children's book)

Piper's Journey Home: The True Story of a Rescue Puppy, by Dave Osborn (Adriel Publishing, 2024. $12.99, 56pp, grades 2-5, ages 4-16) Review by Skye Anderson

A lovely book highlighted by an adorable dog on the front cover - Piper! With one ear up and one ear down, his German Shepherd Dog ear and his Labrador Retriever ear, respectively.

Piper starts life out in the country, cold and always hungry. One day, a woman spies him and takes him home to foster. Skinny little Piper recovers quickly and is adopted by a family who teaches him how to live in a home.

Soon they test and discover Piper's breed mix and the idea that Piper might make a very good therapy dog which makes the reader think there is a second book in the works!

The Author

But the magic of Piper's Journey Home is the fact that  Piper wrote it and he wrote it for little tykes - in short sentences they can understand and short words that they know. In his own voice, just as I imagined a dog would talk. This writing style also makes me want to read the next book, in which Piper becomes a therapy dog.

Book Review: Blue Light Hours (mother-daughter, college freshman)

Blue Light Hours by Bruna Lobato (Black Cat, 2024, $17, 178pp) Review by Skye Anderson

In a Word: Sweet

Our daughters teach us how to be mothers. 

Blue Light Hours is a story of five years in the lives of a mother and her daughter, separated by thousands of miles and by college for one and aging for the other. They chat nearly every night by Skype and share memories and hopes and dreams but mostly memories.

And yet, this is not a usual relationship but, nevertheless, a loving one, with the mother reliving the previous year with her dying mother while trying to understand her daughter's need to study in the United States while not being able to return to Brazil (living on a scholarship).

The reader will reminisce her own college experience, down to the furniture in her dorm room and life on campus, one of a very few students who stay on campus between terms while fellow students take summer jobs back home or volunteer in Asia or . . . but our daughter relishes the aloneness and the beauty of hot summers to contrast with the first cold deep snow and the colors of autumn.

Mother comforts daughter and tells her to be safe, tells her that riding a bike can be dangerous, while every time her daughter calls, she picks up as if she has no other life (except for the soaps).

We wait for the plot to thicken, but it doesn't. Instead, author Bruna Lobato leaves us with a feeling of love and calmness and the realization that things never change. . . even as they ever so slowly do

Book Review: This Motherless Land (OT)(girl in England and Nigeria)

This Motherless Land, by Nikki May (HarperCollins, 2024, 342 pp, $30), NPR's Best Book of the Year. Review by Skye Anderson.

If a book can be fun while being engrossing, this is it! 

We have two sisters: one good, one not so good, separated by a tragedy. Two countries on two continents. Their two daughters who become best friends and subsequently, also, separated by tragedy. Add a pearl necklace - or is it two, on the front cover?

We smell and taste Nigeria, we wilt in the oppressive heat, we inhale the tropics, rotting and yet beautiful. We experience having to live in a different culture but then return home - and it is the return that can be more difficult so that we never seem to fit in, in either country, on either continent, in either family.

A Sage of Time and Family

Well-written and impossible to put down, This Motherless Land is reminiscent of Persephone (about a girl growing up in revolutionary Tehran and spending her formative years alone in Europe, trying out everything) in covering two cultures but Motherless has a surprising plot within a plot followed by another.

This book will satisfy the OCD reader in that the front cover tells it all and the title is easily comprehendible. The prose is so good that you are not aware of it - the mark of a good author.

We simply loved this This Motherless Land!

Book Review: Honeymoon in Baghdad: The True Story of Two American Newlywed Soldiers Fighting Side by Side on the Battlefields of Iraq

Honeymoon in Baghdad: The True Story of Two American Newlywed Soldiers Fighting Side by Side on the Battlefields of Iraq, by Heidi Radkiewicz (Redwood Publishing, 2018, 250pp, $10.99)

I consented to review Honeymoon in Baghdad with some trepidation because so many war memoirs are too 'reporty' and not well-written but I was enthralled with Honeymoon! It is a fast read, one that when you have to put it down, you can't wait to return to it to see what happened in your absence. It is sweet, exciting and brought back memories of my own deployment, even with all the differences.

What's It All About?

A shy girl in Iowa drops out of college and joins the Reserves as a truck driver. She and her sister move to Colorado where she meets another Reservist and begins her new life as a married soldier, as unbelievable as it sounds to her hometown buddies.

Then the notice comes (nearly halfway through the book): her unit is being sent to Iraq! At least she will be with her husband.  But is that a good thing or not? Will they worry about each other too much?

What's Iraq All About?

Iraq is hot, hot, hot. And sandy. But the camaraderie is priceless and being able to see your spouse every day makes you the luckiest soldier in Iraq.

What Makes It a Good Book?

Author Radkiewicz has a knack for keeping the reader engaged even though there is a twinge that something bad will happen. Whether or not it does, I will leave up to you to discover.

The author also has the ability to keep you engaged with a cliffhanger at the end of most chapters and some unforgettable little gems along the way: "Amusingly, the road signs were in both Arabic and English, as if Saddam was expecting us and didn't want us to get lost. How thoughtful." (p. 137) And with truisms such as, ". . . as their tactics became more brutal, our defenses became more efficient." (p. 197)

All in all, Honeymoon is a delightful, sweet book about being in a war with your spouse. Although few readers share the exact same experiences, all share the same feelings and emotions. And, of course, the story (yes there are some dogs in Honeymoon) has its share of military cuss words but is also written by a woman who intensely believes in God. 

Apologies

Our book reviews have been absent for too long but we have been involved in a series-of-books review that, once begun, just seems to grow and grow like Topsy. As soon as we think we have written enough to cover the subject, we find more information to fill the holes. 

However,  we will continue as usual and post the series review when it is finally complete.

Thank you for your concerns about our absence!

Beloved Animal Rescue Pilot is Buried with a Puppy He Tried to Save - Pilots 'n Paws

In light of the recent deaths of a Pilot 'n Paws pilot and one of his canine passengers, we are reposting a blog article we wrote 10 years ago about this very worthy endeavor. For more information, here is a Washington Post article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/12/08/seuk-kim-pilot-rescue-dogs-crash/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------EverythingDogBlog #186: (Nearly) Wordless Wednesday: Pilots 'n Paws, A Promising Partnership

It’s Raining Cats and Dogs And We’re Flying Dogs and Cats

The other week, I wrote all week (five times) about my (mis)adventures ‘rescuing’ a four-pound three-legged poodle named Pierre on his way to the Poodle Rescue of Vermont, thanks to a wonderful organization called Pilots and Paws (PnP).

Since this is (Nearly) Wordless Wednesday, and since I had promised to feature the Pilots and Paws logo, here we go!

The Need

What could be better than the marriage of pilots who love to fly and dogs who need transportation to new homes – and the countless people who bring them together.

The Logo

Designed by a pilot, the PnP logo says it all, with a small plane superimposed on a paw print. Shop here for logo products and the new book, Radar’s Dream, for children.

To read a review of the inspiring book for adults (with plenty of dog and plane photos), Dog is My Co-Pilot, click here.

Pilots and Paws - PilotsnPaws - Pilots 'n Paws

An idea conceived almost by accident in 2007, Pilots ‘N Paws has grown exponentially to transport dogs and other needy animals mostly from the South and Southeast, places of high density homeless pupsters, to the MidWest and Northeast, where dogs are dearly wanted.

Pilots ‘N Paws is a 501(c)(3) organization so the pilots are true volunteers of their time, fuel, and planes. Thousands of pilots have registered to save dog-lives, flying short hops of a hundred miles to longer flights of more than two thousand miles with some requiring up to 10 legs, including automobile shuttles.

Each pilot in the air and the myriads of dog people working on the ground are truly “angels in the sky” for these very lucky and very deserving dogs.

Sponsored by Subaru* (“Love. It’s what makes a Subaru.”) and Petmate (for kennels, collars, leashes, and seatbelts), Pilots n Paws is a ‘paw-worthy’ organization!

(logo courtesy of Pilots and Paws)

*For a cute Subaru story, read this EverythingDogBlog