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MY DOG MADE ME WRITE THIS BOOK

Name: MY DOG MADE ME WRITE THIS BOOK
Author: Elizabeth Fensham
ISBN: 978-1-4926-8086-4

From the My Dog Ugly series

by Elizabeth Fensham ; illustrated by James Lancett ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2019

This amusing but never especially compelling dog tale is most likely to appeal to animal lovers. (Fiction. 8-11)

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Nine-year-old Eric was thrilled to get a puppy from the animal shelter. But Ugly has now grown into an out-of-control dog.

The primary reason for that is Eric, of course. It’s been far too easy for him to leave Ugly’s care to his busy mom, so the young dog has never received any training, and now Eric’s parents and his rather unpleasant, much older sister have lost patience with both boy and dog. Worse is that Ugly prefers the person who feeds him, leaving Eric feeling rejected and unmotivated. If Ugly isn’t to be sent away, Eric has to step up and take over, a lesson he’s quite reluctant to embrace in spite of gentle—if rather pedantic—guidance from his grandfather. Eric’s first-person narrative is represented as a book he’s writing, apparently as self-motivated bibliotherapy. With amusing advice from his friends and help from Maggie, an experienced dog trainer, Eric eventually learns his lessons—and so does Ugly. Ugly’s misadventures are believable, as is Eric’s avoidance of responsibility. Maggie provides interesting dog-training hints, and the happy ending may inspire readers to pick up Ugly’s next misadventure, My Dog Gets a Job, which publishes simultaneously. Eric, his family, and Maggie present white in Lancett’s engaging illustrations; he has at least one friend of color.

This amusing but never especially compelling dog tale is most likely to appeal to animal lovers. (Fiction. 8-11)

Pub Date: July 1, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-4926-8086-4

Page Count: 160

Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky

Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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THE PORCUPINE YEAR

From the Birchbark House series , Vol. 3

by Louise Erdrich ; illustrated by Louise Erdrich ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2008

The journey is even gently funny—Omakayas’s brother spends much of the year with a porcupine on his head. Charming and...

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This third entry in the Birchbark House series takes Omakayas and her family west from their home on the Island of the Golden-Breasted Woodpecker, away from land the U.S. government has claimed.

Difficulties abound; the unknown landscape is fraught with danger, and they are nearing hostile Bwaanag territory. Omakayas’s family is not only close, but growing: The travelers adopt two young chimookoman (white) orphans along the way. When treachery leaves them starving and alone in a northern Minnesota winter, it will take all of their abilities and love to survive. The heartwarming account of Omakayas’s year of travel explores her changing family relationships and culminates in her first moon, the onset of puberty. It would be understandable if this darkest-yet entry in Erdrich’s response to the Little House books were touched by bitterness, yet this gladdening story details Omakayas’s coming-of-age with appealing optimism.

The journey is even gently funny—Omakayas’s brother spends much of the year with a porcupine on his head. Charming and enlightening. (Historical fiction. 9-11)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2008

ISBN: 978-0-06-029787-9

Page Count: 208

Publisher: HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2008

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
MAKOONS
by Louise Erdrich ; illustrated by Louise Erdrich

- BOOK REVIEW
CHICKADEE
by Louise Erdrich

- BOOK REVIEW
THE GAME OF SILENCE
by Louise Erdrich ; illustrated by Louise Erdrich

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ESCAPE FROM BAXTERS' BARN

by Rebecca Bond ; illustrated by Rebecca Bond ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 7, 2015

Ironically, by choosing such a dramatic catalyst, the author weakens the adventure’s impact overall and leaves readers to...

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A group of talking farm animals catches wind of the farm owner’s intention to burn the barn (with them in it) for insurance money and hatches a plan to flee.

Bond begins briskly—within the first 10 pages, barn cat Burdock has overheard Dewey Baxter’s nefarious plan, and by Page 17, all of the farm animals have been introduced and Burdock is sharing the terrifying news. Grady, Dewey’s (ever-so-slightly) more principled brother, refuses to go along, but instead of standing his ground, he simply disappears. This leaves the animals to fend for themselves. They do so by relying on their individual strengths and one another. Their talents and personalities match their species, bringing an element of realism to balance the fantasy elements. However, nothing can truly compensate for the bland horror of the premise. Not the growing sense of family among the animals, the serendipitous intervention of an unknown inhabitant of the barn, nor the convenient discovery of an alternate home. Meanwhile, Bond’s black-and-white drawings, justly compared to those of Garth Williams, amplify the sense of dissonance. Charming vignettes and single- and double-page illustrations create a pastoral world into which the threat of large-scale violence comes as a shock.

Ironically, by choosing such a dramatic catalyst, the author weakens the adventure’s impact overall and leaves readers to ponder the awkward coincidences that propel the plot. (Animal fantasy. 8-10)