Review: Dog Books

Somehow, at some point in time, a marketing company has found my dog blog and said, "Now there's someone who might help review our products and get the word out about them." I'm not sure how that came about, but I think that having a dog blog and writing in it frequently has something to do with that.

So I was not surprised when I received an email from Sondra, who works for Kane / Miller Book Publishers, and who asked me to review a couple of children's books featuring dog stories. Of course I said I would - as long as they didn't mind if I donated the books to a local elementary school afterwards. After all, I don't have a lot of use for children's book in my household...

Kane / Miller Publishers have a very interesting concept. The majority of their books are foreign children's books translated in English, and you can search their website not just by theme or author, but also by country of origin. I think that's quite unique among book publishers, specifically children's book publishers, and it's pretty neat to see books from South Africa, Venezuela, Ghana, Germany, Israel, Japan, and a plethora of other countries being available to children in the United States.

The books Sondra sent me are Gus Clarke's "Lucky - A Dog's Best Friend", Michael Foreman's "Saving Sinbad", and Victoria Chess's "The Costume Party.

The Costume Party is a book from France, for young readers between 5 and 9.

I think kids are going to enjoy the illustrations most - they're big, colorful, and very detailed. Not to mention hilarious.

People who love bully breeds are going to enjoy the fact that this book does not feature cute little nondescript mutts, but five white Bull Terriers! (And they're a breed that often doesn't get a whole lot of good press because people keep lumping them in with Pit Bulls in the media.)

Young readers will love meeting Madame Coco and her five Bull Terriers and see what happens when boredom gets the better of them on a very boring rainy day - the pups tear up the house! So Madame plans a big party, since that requires everyone to get together, help out, and keep busy making costumes, party decorations, and ordering food and beverages to be brought in!

Overall, an adorable book for beginning readers. (And bully breed lovers.)

Saving Sinbad! comes to us from the UK and is geared toward readers between 4 and 6 years old. It is dedicated to the crew of the St. Ives Lifeboat. The front cover unfortunately doesn't do the beautiful watercolor illustrations on the inside of the book justice.

The story is set in a small fishing village on the English coast, where a dog accompanies his master to work as a carpenter in the mornings and spends the day watching the town.

During a storm, a small sailing boat is in distress near the town, and the town's rescue crew spring into action. The dog who's raced to the beach to watch the rescue spots a small dog, Sinbad, who's fallen from the boat and is paddling in the water trying to stay afloat. Our dog hero jumps in and rescues Sinbad for a happy ending.

The action in this book might appeal more to boys than girls, but I think both boys and girls are going to like the illustrations and story overall.

However, out of the books that I was sent to review, I have to say that "Lucky - A Dog's Best Friend" was my favorite, both because it has really cute illustrations, and because I just love a shelter rescue story. (After all, my dog's a shelter dog.)

Lucky - A Dog's Best Friend also comes from the UK and is for readers between 3 and 5 years of age.

The book tells the story of Lucky, who is one lucky dog, having been rescued from a lonely life tied up on an apartment balcony and brought to a very nice shelter where dogs have comfortable beds, plenty to eat, and friends to walk with.

Friends like Bernard, a large, older dog, who was brought to the shelter because his owner got sick. Unfortunately, because Bernard is older, nobody wants to adopt him.

So the other dogs at the shelter hatch a plan to get adopters interested in him, instead of them. Walter the dog snubs visitors. Nick growls at them. Gertie scares them by jumping on the fence. And Ben pees on an adopter's leg. And nice Bernard, the only one not to misbehave gets his forever home.

Eventually, Lucky, too finds his home... with Jim and Edna, the shelter owners, and their son who even looks a little like Lucky the dog.

Obviously, this is a great book about dog adoption and finding forever homes for dogs - and let's face it, there are thousands who need it. Part of the book's proceeds, by the way, go directly to doing just that, supporting shelter dogs - they're being donated to FOCAS (Friends of County Animal Shelters). So you can buy a great book your kids will love and support a good cause at the same time!