A Scottish Terrier named Ch. Roundtown Mercedes Of Maryscot (aka Sadie) wins Best in Show at Westminster. PETA protestors sneak in and hold up signs saying "Mutts Rule" and Breeders Kill Shelter Dogs' Chances." I'm not a PETA fan, but they have a point. Not so much about the breeders, perhaps, but certainly about a) that mutts rule and b) the AKC does kill shelter dogs' chances - by refusing to crack down on puppy mills and high volume breeders, the AKC is helping create thousands of puppies who are prime candidates to end up in shelters.
And some books featuring Scotties. And some other media too.
Picture books The Adventures of Mary Margaret by Nina Devor It Must Be Mary Margaret by Nina Devor Angus And The Cat by Marjorie Flack Angus Lost by Marjorie Flack Angus And The Cat by Marjorie Flack Angus And The Ducks by Marjorie Flack The Case of the Missing Socks by Lisa McClafferty Mac And Muff by Gertrude Hildreth Jock And Jill: A Tale of Two Scotties by Morgan Dennis Just Tammie! by Dorothy Bryan The Little Black Scotty by Dorothy McGregor L'hommedieu
Mysteries The Fala Factor by Stuart Kaminsky
Bios First Dog Fala by Elizabeth Van Steenwyk The True Story of Fala byMargare Suckley and Alice Dagliesh
Short stories James Thurber's Jeannie stories, including Look Homeward Jeannie and In Defense Of Dogs, Even, After a Fashion, Jeannie. Which can be read online at Google Books.
Despite his hybridism (Joe used to say his coat looked as if someone had dipped him in a barrel of glue and then emptied a flock mattress over him) the dog had an air of self-assurance emphasized by an arrogantly held head and a long droop of a setter-like tail which, as he moved with his easy sauntering gait, swung from side to side with the stateliness of an ermine cloak.
Andy is nine, and lonely.His father is a merchant seaman, away for long stretches of time, and his mother has run off with another man.Worst of all, Andy is mute.Shipped off to stay with his aunt and uncle in a fishing village, Andy strikes up a friendship with an abandoned dog, a grey-black mongrel named The Spuddy.His relatives are kind, but forbid him to keep the dog at home, putting Andy to some trouble to provide for his new friend.But it's worth it to the abandoned boy.
As he walked toward him the Spuddy sat watching, cautiously assessing the boy's approach.Andy saw the dog's ears twitch, the tail begin to wave, and most comforting of all, the eyes brighten with welcome.Love and gratefulness surged through Andy.He began to feel wanted again and he bent down and let the Spuddy lick his ear before they raced off happily toward the open moors.
The two soon befriend Jake, skipper of the Silver Crest.Jake should be a happily married man with a baby son, but his wife has essentially abandoned him to go live with her parents, and he's lonely too.The mutt turns out to have a nose for sniffing out fish, and Jake's luck begins to turn.
It's notable that the women in this book are all villains.The aunt comes off best, but she's the one who refuses to let Andy keep the dog at home.The men are all gruff, baffled victims of feminine whims, and you get the sense that everyone on the fishing boats prefer the wild and woolly seas to the drama of the hearth.
A well-written adventure which is curiously muffled, as Andy and the dog don't speak, and much of the plot is related as a story, not shown as action.
About the Author
1916-2004
Her real name was Lillian Comber.She and her husband moved to the Isle of Skye in 1942, and several of her books were based on her life there.They moved to the Isle of Man in 1962.
Fists began to fly when suddenly a small furry object hurtled into the fray.It was Dixie, growling and snarling, bristling and biting.
Ten-year-old Gersholm Converse Montgomery III (aka Gerry) gets the little Welsh Terrier pup Dixie as a gift from Lt. John Reed, who is forever grateful to Gerry's dad, Captain Converse Montgomery, for saving his life in WWII.The captain is dying of a blood infection picked up in the Pacific, and when he dies, the scrappy little dog helps everyone adjust to a new life in the city.He accompanies Gerry on a paper route to help with the family finances, and pitches in when Gerry tangles with tough new neighbor Bill O'Brien.
Almost English, with the genteel family moving from a rural estate in Dover and private schools to an old-fashioned house owned by their grandmother in a dodgy neighborhood in Brookline and public schools.And the following scene of an obnoxious child is almost too Brit to bear:
...a boy who pranced up to Gerry and said, "I'm going to have your room and I'm going to mark up that fancy wallpaper, and bust up your birdfeeder, and grind a hole in that workbench."
But there's an air of realism in the book - the family is never said to be poor, simply not as well off as previously.In short, they had to let the maid go and sell the 15-acre gentleman's farm, but they still have a big city house (albeit in a less nice area) and a maid.
Who is Irish.And big and bossy.It was inevitable she'd be either Irish or Negro (to use the term which would have been used here, likely).The mild-mannered WASPy family fits in fairly well with their new neighbors, whose multiculti 1950's style features the friendly Italian family the Delasapios, and the surly, touchy Irish kid Bill.And there's some other fun fifties stuff.
"What's a pizza?" asked Gerry.
Although Bill probably saves Gerry's life by advising him to NOT wear capri pants to public school (ok, I know they weren't capris, but - they looked it.) but remains wary of Dixie and unfriendly except to Mrs. Montgomery, who keeps encountering him in her new job at the local library.There's an odd sort of twist at the end, but until that point it's quite satisfying.
Dogs
Dixie - male Welsh Terrier
Duzzy - male spaniel mix puppy
Other books
Dogs
Jenny
Other
Peter Paints The USA
Jim The Cat
The Elegant Eleanor
Nonfiction
Plimoth Plantation Then And Now
Tearing Down To Build Up
Writing, Illustrating And Editing Children's Books
Mystic Seaport: The Age Of Sail
The New Wellesley
The Children's Book Field
Lexington And Concord, 1775
Jesus And The World
About the Author
Jean Poindexter founded Junior Reviewers, a monthly magazine which reviewed new children's books, and was an editor at Ariel Books.
Links
The U. of Southern Mississippi, du Grummond collection
Ribsy Beverly Cleary, il. Louis Darling 1964, Morrow Junior Books
Ribsy began to run. He ran as fast as he could, dodging in and out among the acres of parked cars in the direction from which he thought he had come. He could find no landmarks. All the white stripes on the asphalt were exactly alike, and all the cars looked pretty much the same to Ribsy. No matter which way he ran there were more cars and more white lines. He was confused, bewildered, and frightened. He was also sopping wet.
Ribsy gets his own book chronicling his adventures when he becomes lost on a shopping trip with the Huggins family. The friendly mutt's amiable nature is clear as he's adopted by a family of aggressive children, dressed up by a doting old lady, and becomes a mascot for a second-grade classroom.
But he never stops longing for Henry.
"Go home," repeated the principal. After one more sad backward glance, Ribsy started walking. He wanted to obey the man. He wanted to go home, but he did not know where home was, and there was no way he could make the man understand.
Another simple, well-written book for young readers. Poor Ribsy's plight is lightened by cheerful adventures with kind people, and there is, of course, a happy ending.
Other books about Henry Henry And Beezus Henry And The Clubhouse Henry And The Paper Route
Other dog books by Cleary Strider Two Dog Biscuits - picture book
About the Author 1916- Beverly Bunn was born in McMinnville, Oregon. She lived on a farm in Yamhill as a small child, moving to Portland for school. In 1934 she went to college in California. She graduated from U.C. Berkeley, and studied at the University of Washington, Seattle to be a librarian. She was a librarian in Yakima, Washington, until her marriage to Clarence Cleary. She wrote two autobiographies, A Girl from Yamhill and My Own Two Feet. She has had a school named after her, and her famous characters are featured in a mural at a Washington library branch, and as statues in a park in Oregon.
Henry Huggins Beverly Cleary, il. Louis Darling 1950, William Morrow and Company
He wasn't any special kind of dog. He was too small to be a big dog but, on the other hand, he was much too big to be a little dog. He wasn't a white dog because parts of him were brown and other parts were black and in between there were yellowish patches. His ears stood up and his tail was long and thin.
Third-grader Henry Huggins finds a dog at the bus stop, and takes him home after having some trouble finding a suitable container. The dog, named Ribsy for his skinny frame, becomes an integral part of Klickitat Street. An amiable soul, Ribsy learns how to tolerate neighborhood toddler Ramona Quimbly, and plays a part in all Henry's adventures, from buying a terribly fertile pair of guppies to getting out of a humiliating part in the school play, and triumphing at the local pet show. But when Ribsy's former owner appears, Henry stands to lose his pet.
A sweet, sensible story for young readers with appealing characters, brisk action and wonderful illustrations.
Other books about Henry Ribsy Henry And Beezus Henry And The Clubhouse Henry And The Paper Route
Other dog books by Cleary Strider Two Dog Biscuits - picture book
About the Author 1916- Beverly Bunn was born in McMinnville, Oregon. She lived on a farm in Yamhill as a small child, moving to Portland for school. In 1934 she went to college in California. She graduated from U.C. Berkeley, and studied at the University of Washington, Seattle to be a librarian. She was a librarian in Yakima, Washington, until her marriage to Clarence Cleary. She wrote two autobiographies, A Girl from Yamhill and My Own Two Feet. She has had a school named after her, and her famous characters are featured in a mural at a Washington library branch, and as statues in a park in Oregon.
Scuffles Ruth and Latrobe Carroll, il. Ruth Carroll 1943, Henry Z. Walck, Inc.
There wasn't anybody in his family for him to play with.His brother and sister were older than he was.They had left home to earn their living.
A playful little puppy is sent to school to learn what work he's meant to do, and samples a range of careers owing to his mixed ancestry.
A nicely done picture book with an amusing dog's-eye view of the world.Various dogs have different jobs, from Scuffles's brother working on a fishing boat to his mother caring for a little old lady, and all subscribe to the theory put forward by Dr. Noseworthy, the elderly St. Bernard who runs the school: "the happy dogs are the busy dogs."When Scuffles washes out of herding and running classes, he ends up in pet class, where puppies are taught games to play with their owners, and tactics for training their owners.
If your master forgets to give you water, pick up the water bowl in your mouth and carry it to him.He will understand.If he forgets to take you for a walk, go get your leash and show it to him.If he doesn't go out with you even then, talk to him.Speak right up.Be polite, but firm.
I believe my dog attended this class.
Dogs Scuffles - puppy Dr. Noseworthy - old St. Bernard Professor Scentry - Rough Collie Professor Swift - Greyhound Professor Paw-Spring - Poodle Miss Curl - Cocker Spaniel
Other Books Peanut Salt And Pepper Tough Enough Digby The Only Dog Tough Enough's Trip Tough Enough's Pony Tough Enough And Sassy Bounce And The Bunnies Tough Enough's Indians Runaway Pony, Runaway Dog The Bumble Pup Managing Hen & The Floppy Hound Hullabaloo The Elephant Dog
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Three Dog Winter Elizabeth Van Steenwyk 1987, Bantam Doubleday Dell
Scott McClure reluctantly moves to Montana with his mom and new stepdad.After his dad's long illness, only his lead sled dog, Kaylah, is left of the team father and son used to train.Scott schemes to restart his racing, struggles to get along with new stepbrother Brad, and copes with a new school.A series of setbacks complicate all three situations, particularly when the miserably unhappy Brad runs away.
Scott glanced up at the low-lying range crouching on the horizon.Its look was totally different from the Sierra peaks at home.Rather than being pointed and ragged edged, these mountains looked as if they'd been shaped with a spoon, maybe a giant ice cream scoop.
A bare-bones style aptly communicates the very basic thoughts of a 12-year-old boy but isn't particularly inviting and doesn't really expand the book much beyond the immediate problems Scott faces in each scene.For a book very much about dogs, the four canines are seen only dimly.Kaylah, a Malamute who is male, has a feminine name and is seen largely as a means to an end.The stray setter Rusty is seen most clearly; both Scott and his mother regularly speak of how fond they are of him, but that ultimately turns out to be for plot reasons as well.Brad's golden mix, Bruno, is treated largely as a convenient team member, and the champion sleddog Chinook is pure plot device.
Scott's rather self-centered.When Brad's dog is badly hurt, Scott's upset but quickly focuses on how the accident has made him feel - scared to race again.When Rusty's owner appear, Scott shows no empathy for the elderly couple and their love for the dog. being preoccupied with how this ruins his plans for Rusty to be part of his dog team.
The book was turned into a movie, Kayla (1999), which appears to differ significantly from the book.
Dogs Kaylah - male black-and-white Malamute Bruno - male retriever mix Rusty - male brown setter mix Chinook - male black-and-white Malamute
More books by Author Van Steenwyk has written many books, but only a few about dogs First Dog Fala (2008) picture book
Visitor From The Sea Dorothy Simpson 1965, J.B. Lippincott
Becky Marshall is bored and lonely when she finds a stray dog on the beach.Your Highness appears to be a mix of collie and terrier, and her beautiful manners and loving personality quickly win over the Marshall family.Except for Mama.The Marshalls live in a fishing village on an island off Maine, so Mama is forced to agree to give the dog one week until the next boat can take her to the pound.
Becky spends a hard week alternating between joy at being with her dog and misery at knowing she'll lose her.Also in the mix are her disappointment in her father, who refuses to fight her mother on the dog, and the agony of experiencing a grief her family doesn't share.Her brother, for example, is sympathetic but he can still laugh and attempt to find Your Highness a new owner; he doesn't really understand.As Becky's vivid imagination constructs various ways to keep her pet, a startling number of heroic scenarios do occur - and fail to change Mama's mind.
Dogs Your Highness - collie/terrier mix Boffin - mix Max - black and white collie
Setting Maine island
About the Author 1905-1998 Aleda Dorothy Knowlton Simpson grew up on one Maine island, Criehaven, and lived for many years as an adult on another, Gay's Island (also known as Burton's Island), with the well-known novelist Elizabeth Ogilvie.
Other books by the Author Island In The Bay (1956) The Honest Dollar (1957) Maine island girl Jane tries to earn money A Lesson For Jane (1958)Jane befriends a city girl, Myra A Matter of Pride (1958)Jane tangles with a teacher New Horizons (1961)Jane goes to school on the mainland
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Moog Roy Simpson Marsh, il. Clifford Schule (cover) 1958, Macrae Smith Company
Of the moose he had shot several days ago, only enough remained to supply two more meals, so he kept on the alert.They made better than forty miles that day because the load was now light and the snow well packed.All were famished, so Tom fed the dogs the remainder of the meat, feeling confident that tomorrow he would reach the Eskimo settlement at Point Manning.
Musher and trader Tom Fay is summering in western Alaska when one of his sled dogs, Sue, has a litter.He keeps only one pup, the cream-colored male he names Moog.When the pup is old enough, he joins and then leads Fay's team on the long trade route between Eskimo settlements, "from the mouth of the Yukon north to Point Barrow, and east along the Arctic Ocean tothe Mackenzie River in northwestern Canada."But Fay's route is interrupted this year by a near-fatal attack on a friend, and his subsquent pursuit of the villain, a pursuit which takes him into a blizzard and lands him aboard an ice floe.
The observations of the dogs is warm and sympathetic, with much detail and interest.When Tom replaces Moog's aging mother, Sue, on the team, she's bewildered.
For a moment or two, looking puzzled, she simply stood and stared at her offspring.He, of all dogs, was taking her place.Slowly, her lips lifted in a snarl, and she lunged at Moog's neck.Although he saw her coming, he remained still and allowed her to bite, but her blunt, worn-down teeth only pulled out a mouthful of hair.He could have ripped her to shreds.Ordinarily, he would have escaped her snap, but not today.He was taking her place, and he acted as if she was entitled to one hard bite - to some expression of retaliation.
The story plods a bit in places, as might be expected from a narrative where most of the time, the protagonists are walking long distances.But there are frequent exciting battles and encounters with danger, and many violent, bloody fights between Moog and various creatures, and furious arguments between Tom and recalcitrant natives.
Marsh has a typically great white hunter approach to women and non-whites, summing up women by their appearance (fat or slender) and general motherliness, and the natives as either shifty or noble.To his credit, he does have a noble variety protest at Tom's use of 'Eskimo' and supply the name "Inuit."Though since Tom's been trading among these people for eight years, you'd think he'd have figured this one out by now.Tom's perception of the natives is that they are a perfectly nice alien race - which actually does have some truth to it.The American trapper and the Inuit villagers are from hugely different societies, awkward though Marsh's comments sometimes are to modern readers.
A dated but still engrossing adventure story starring a dog and his master.Very mid-20th century, but with a genuine, modern affection for dogs.
Dogs Moog (Eskimo for 'Strong One') - Saint Bernard/Malamute cross Sue - Saint Bernard, Moog's dam
Other Books by Author Rusty (1961) Kang (1962) Tundra, Arctic Sled Dog (1968)
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Bel Ria Sheila Burnford 1977, Little, Brown & Company
In Memoriam 1939-1945
Amidst the confusion of the German invasion of France, a small circus dog loses his owner to German air attacks and latches onto British corporal Sinclair, who had a brief encounter with the little circus and watched helplessly as it was obliterated.When German planes sink the destroyer on which he's being evacuated, Sinclair is injured and the dog becomes the responsibility of Neil MacLean, a sick berth attendant on the British destroyer Tertian.Now named Ria, the dog becomes an unlikely agent of change for the withdrawn, curt MacLean, who never liked animals and who is at first affronted by the smallness and delicacy of the canine life he's been charged with.This little dancing dog.
On the fourth note the toe began to tap, and the dog rose to his hind legs and began to dance.The tune had a lilting rythym, and in perfect time he pirouetted in a circle, forepaws held out and head held high.
Slowly, MacLean begins to respect the fragile Ria's stubbornness, so like his own, and for the first time in his life forms an affection for an animal.But he has promised to return the dog to Sinclair and when the ship takes a brief rest from its work patrolling the supply convoys that are all that keeps Britain alive, he sends the dog ashore with a crewmate's sister.When her house is bombed that night, it seems that Ria must have been killed.But the delicate little dog survives, and finds a new home and a new identity as Bel, pampered pet of elderly Mrs. Alice Tremorne.And as the war ends in Europe, events come to an almost full circle as Donald Sinclair manages to make his way back to the circus dog he'd scooped reluctantly out of the mud nearly five years earlier.
Burnford, best known for The Incredible Journey, surpasses herself here with a book that manages one of the harder tricks of fiction - putting a fictional personal story against the bitter background of war without taking away from either.Here, the tragedy of a small dog is given the same full consideration as the war; neither aspect of the plot detracts from the other.There is no sense of a dog's story cheapening the horror of war.
It's clear from the dedication of the book, quoted above, that Burnford regarded her book as being about the war, as well as her characters.
Animals Bel/Ria - small male mixed-breed dog (probably terrier/poodle) Louis - Capuchin monkey Barkis - white male bull terrier Hyacinthe - tortieshell female cat
Other books by Author The Incredible Journey (1961)
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Sociable Toby Eleanor Clymer, il. Ingrid Fetz 1956, E.M. Hale & Company
Miss Emma Dusenberry has seen her quiet neighborhood torn away, the big old houses destroyed and replaced by new ranchers, until her big Victorian is the only one left.And she's the only older person left in a landscape of children and younger couples.Lonely yet tired of answering the door for children whose toys have flown into her yard and listening to the sounds of families, she decides to buy a dog.
It must not be too big and not too small...I want a watchdog to bark when people come to the door.But I don't want one that will bite children.
A reasonable list, and one that I favor myself.But like all dog buyers, she forgets to factor in at least one trait.In her choice of bright-eyed, medium-sized, barky but kindly Toby, what she doesn't realize is that he's a sociable sort of dog, more prone to bringing people to her than to keeping people away.It all ends well, of course, during a blizzard when Miss Dusenberry's outdated old house provides shelter for the new people let down by their snazzy new ranchers.
Written in a simple and engaging style with a very basic sentence structure.Beautifully illustrated by Fetz's warm, personable drawings.She executes the tricky maneuver of giving a black dog's shaggy face personality and vivacity, and her simple portraits of people fit the writing style nicely.
Ingrid Fetz based her drawings on her own Kerry Blue Terrier (also named Toby), although the fictional Toby's breed is never mentioned.
About the Author Eleanor Lowenton Clymer January 7, 1906-April 3, 2001
Clymer wrote over 50 books for children, including five picture books starring an irascible orange cat named Horatio and The Trolley Car Family. The du Grummond collection of children's literature at the University of Southern Mississippi contains some of her papers and manuscripts.
My Dog, Trip Deborah Kogan Ray, author and illustrator 1987, Holiday House
Trip got to be my best friend in the whole world.He help me with my chores.And he always want to play with me.Every day, he's waitin' for me when the school bus lets me off.
A picture book about a little girl and her beloved dog, and how he disappears one day.
I hate books with a southern flair for the coal mines.I loathe them.All the authentic voice and good old-fashioned workin' man values make me squirm.It's not that I long for yet another book set in Manhattan with an upper-middle-class protaganist, but I grew up blue-collar and I can't help suspecting that the author is faking it with all the 'hollers' and 'ain't's and dropped g's everywhere.And that said, I like this book.The illustrations are beautiful, the story is simple and just right, and the ending is satisfying.
Trip - mix, looks like a small setter/hound/retriever mix
Author Info Ray was educated at Philadelphia's venerable art school, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
from The Morgan Dennis Dog Book by Morgan Dennis
