Book Review: A Street Dog Named Pup / Gill Lewis / 9 – Adult

Published by David Fickling Books.

…Rex sighs. ‘And dogs are so much better at that than man’…

There is something about the connection between dogs and wolves. At times it seems incongruous that the small Miniature Pinscher nestled in a customer’s arms could be related to the European Wolf (Canis lupus lupus). Then there’s that glint in the eye that says there is something more to this charming, not to say cute being.

Gill Lewis, an author for whom I have a great deal of respect has written this moving, touching tale about the connection between humans and dogs and more. There are times when I am ashamed of being of the human race – particularly when it comes to the cruelty we show not just to ‘our’ animals, but also to our young too.

It could be said that this is ‘just’ a story about a puppy, his life and what happens to him as he lives it. It is, however, so much more – a tale of bravery, friendship and love. Not just between man and dog, but between dogs themselves too. It is the story of dogs of character – an understatement there – not just Pup, but Frenchi, Saffy, Merle, Rex, and Lady Fifi to name just a few. It will make that all important connection. Whether you are a ‘dog’ person or cat – this is a book that will make an impression.

Miles, was a mild, kindly gentleman who was once stolen from my sister – he landed up with a human gang – where dog fighting was the ‘sport’ of choice. He was reported to the police, after neighbours stole him away – as they said that Miles just sat down and looked bemused at the aggression shown by the dogs that were set to fight him. He didn’t understand what was going on. Why they were so keen to fight. He was, as I said a mild, kindly gentleman of a Rottweiler – appearances can be so deceptive. His was a story that could so easily have been part of A Street Dog Named Pup, and could so easily have had a different ending. To say he was welcomed home with joy, is a very great understatement. I am pleased to say he lived the rest of his life in luxury and his ‘adventure’, apart from some scars on his feet changed nothing in his character. A gentleman to the end.

My sister has just acquired a new puppy, now a little older – perhaps more a young Doberman – who she is bringing down to London at the end of this week. I hope to make friends, to make that understanding. One thing I do know – Mia won’t have the life described so vividly in A Street Dog Named Pup – she has a home for life…

Please visit Gill Lewis’ Internet site: http://www.gilllewis.com/web/

This book was written to make us more aware:

We shouldn’t be changing the shape of the kibble. 

We should be changing the shape of the dog. 

We should be changing the conversation. 

Stories allow us to have empathy for another being. 

So let us imagine what it is to walk a mile in dogs’ paws. 

Let’s start a conversation – and begin that first step. 

Book Review: No Country / Patrice Aggs & Joe Brady / 9 – 12 / Graphic Novel

Published by David Fickling Books.

I don’t usually review graphic novels – there have been one or two in the past – but they have to be good for me to get into them. For some reason I haven’t read many and too many I have started seem light, both in execution and in content.

This though is a story that everyone should read. Illustrated by Patrice Aggs, the text is by Joe Brady – a combination that obviously works. A story that is a reflection of so much of the world. A world torn apart by civil war. A story of one family and two sisters…

Parents are always trying to decide exactly who we are. But they don’t get to. That’s up to us, you know? Besides, I’m your sister. I know you way better than Mum, and even Dad and – sensitive, strong, different, whatever – I think you are awesome.

Really?

Of course I do.

Bold, modern and moving…it is, to quote the last page…to be continued… which was frustrating – now I have to wait.

Book Review: The Incredible Talking Machine / Jenni Spangler / Illus. Chris Mould / 9 – 12

Published by Simon and Schuster

A tale of a false eye.

An automata that isn’t quite what it seems. A haunting. Jealousy, bravery and a mystery unlike any other.

Something round, cool and smooth to the touch, like a new marble. She drew it out and held it up to the light. It was white with a nutmeg brown ring and a black spot. it wasn’t a marble.

Set in a haunted theatre in Manchester – this story is a tale of brotherly jealousy a ghost and all things theatrical….

It is Jenni Spangler’s second book – her first The Vanishing Trick if not already read – should be bought at the same time – both have a mystery with a little something else about them. They would make a wonderful pair of books to read over the summer holidays… They have a feeling of being a pair of sibling books…

Utterly Dark / Philip Reeve / 9 – 12

Published by David Fickling Books

NYP – September 2021

A book for those holidays at the coast – with wide beaches and enormous skies and the sea stretching as far as the eye can see. This an atmospheric dark tale of duty, legends, sea witches and love…

I could almost smell the sea as I read this – superbly written, with a mystery running through it – a tale of promises, inheritance and a creature of the sea…

He was played there like a four-limbed starfish, with the absolute carelessness that only the deeply sleeping and the dead possess.

Philip Reeve is one of those authors – he has an ability to use language to paint a picture – in just a few words that says everything…

…because the sea was roaring so, the wind was wuthering around the stones, and from the west, like a roll of kettledrums, came the first long grumble of thunder as the storm cleared its throat…

Utterly engrossing and entwining – to be read on a headland, perhaps, with the wind around your ears and the sun shining, and the birds cutting through the air above you. Perhaps, not to be read close to the shore at night, or when the rain begins to clatter against the tiles and the sky turns a peculiar yellow-green…

Stupendous.

Book Review: Hide and Seek / Robin Scott-Elliot / 9 – 12

Published by Everything with Words

A Jewish family in Paris, 1942. A young girl plays hide and seek with her family. Hiding deep in a wardrobe, her special place. Only to hear the sound of boots, a hammering on the door. Voices. The sound of feet approaching the wardrobe door, only to move away and the house falling into silence. All pervading, all encompassing silence. A tale of betrayal, bravery and a ‘game’ of hide and seek.

She didn’t need mothers fussing over her, treating her as a child.

Not when Amelie Dreyfus was going to war.

The tension in this book is such that I think it is similar to that which is all pervasive in a country over run by the enemy – whoever they might be. I’m not sure how I would have managed in the last war. Even ‘safely’ in England as my father was. Let alone in an occupied city.

The less you know, the braver you can be.

Stephen Grady

This is a book I didn’t put down.

It’s an important book – that stays with you long after you have finished it.

Another superb story from Robin Scott-Elliot…