DILL'S BOOK REVIEWS

                               DILL'S BOOK REVIEWS          ENTHUSE.ENGAGE.EDUCATE.ENTERTAIN.EXPLORE.
  

BOOKS BOOKMARK OUR LIVES
                                                                                                                                                                 I believe people who love books can relate books to a place and time in
their lives giving books a very special irony--books become bookmarks of
our lives. We used many resources to find the kind of books we wanted to
share with our viewers including contacting Jo at Inknbeans Press. From
day one Jo was helpful even recommending books not published by
Inknbeans Press. Jo told me she enjoyed the way I integrated vignettes
in book reviewsShe was not aware the vignettes used in introducing
books was because of her. Flashback decades... 

When I watched Lassie on television as a child it really became a traumatic

experience. I cried on every show fearful Lassie would be hurt. I rolled across
the floor, tears flying, hollering about Lassie. The shows about Lassie in caves
just tore me to pieces. Really, I was just a hot mess to the point my mother
made me stop looking at Lassie.  I was reprieved, saved from myself. I never
looked at another dog movie or read  a book about dogs again. Decades later,
flash forward... 


I was so far removed from dog stories even as I asked Jo for recommendations it never occurred to me the possibility that she would recommend a book about a dog’s death. I did not want to explain my Lassie issues to Jo and how I simply could not read the book she suggested. But we contacted Jo. So I thanked her, and with silent reluctance (and after a few days of avoidance) I read the book, and absolutely fell in love with it. Fell. In. Love. It was the first book review published on Animal Blogging With Dill The Cat.  Jo recommended many books in which I did reviews on and after the first review others reviews began with a vignette because of Jo reminded me just how much books indeed bookmark our lives and sometimes deaths.  Jo passed away. I cannot imagine heaven without books.  


Zellwood: A Dog Story by Rebecca Stroud.

Every week, when I was a kid, I looked at Lassie, and every show, I cried.   And cried.  It came to the point my mother would not allow me to look at Lassie anymore. It was a good decision.  And good enough that I avoided dog stories thereafter.  As an adult, even if I didn’t cry, and that was not insured, Lassie would still come to mind and all that crying.   No thank you.   I have avoided dog stories since I was a kid.

Decades later here comes Zellwood: A Dog Story by Rebecca Stroud.

I love this book. It is beautifully written. Poignant. Ms. Stroud takes common ordinary words and tap deep into emotions until as I read Zellwood: A Dog Story, I found myself smiling and nodding, and I really did not expect that from me. It is about a dog’s passing and grief.   It is about how animals make us better people, even if it hurts sometimes. Instead of flowers, the next time someone’s pet passes away, Zellwood: A Dog Story by Rebecca Stroud is more befitting to give. But don’t wait. Just read it.   Anytime. 




                 Petectives Stalking Horse by Robert J. Smith

Page one. Book one. I was hooked on Robert J. Smith’s series Petectives about two cats, Gatsby the intellectually smug but likeable and Yoshi his partner who tells their narratives from his point of view with a dry sense of humor as they solve neighborhood crimes. Petectives Stalking Horse takes this endearing duo out of their city elements to a farm where they engage with new animals characters, and some familiar ones. I really thought after reading a couple of Robert J. Smith books I would be able to figure out the mystery in Petectives Stalking Horse, and yet again like his other books I could not do it but with appreciation for the mystery. I admire the creative fluidity of Robert J. Smith’s writing to bring these memorable characters to life, allowing the reader to peek inside their secret lives that humans know nothing of, and ending the story Petectives Stalking Horse (like the books before it) the best way possible, making the reader looking forward to the next story in the series Petectives. Robert J. Smith's other reviews are further down on this page--check them out!  
https://www.facebook.com/Petectives/ 
https://petectives.net/petectives-webcomic/
                                                   
                                                        
ZOODIAC KIDS BY DAVE JOHNSON
Dave Johnson, a zookeeper and author, couples Zoodiac Kids with lyrical poetry, eye catching gorgeous colors of graphics and layout by Ray Lucero, and takes kids on a journey around the world by connecting them with animals by their birth months.  Dave Johnson teaches kids about animals, their indigenous geography, and the importance to be conservationists.  He wrote a book to inspire, and children who are inspired early in life to care about animals have healthy roots in becoming adults who never stop caring. Zoodiac Kids is Dave Johnson's third book for kids in his Sissy Sally Sassafras series about animals. Check it out -- https://www.facebook.com/zoodiackids/
 
A signed copy was gifted to S. Mason.  At the Denver Museum of Nature and Science we purchased another copy of Zoodiac Kids and donated it to a Little Free Library because a book that inspires kids to care about animals needs to be shared.  Check out Dill's Blue Page.
                                                                                                                        

                                                                           
                                    The Runaway Bunny
     by Margaret Wise Brown- Pictures by Clement Hurd
A childhood book does more than bring back memories.  It takes a person, float them, to a time of who they use to be, and even a stranger can tell, if for a moment, that person is somewhere else. The story is about what mommy bunny would do to find baby bunny if he ran away. It is the enchanting art, poetic words that makes this book worth reading from one generation to the next.
                                                                                                                                                                                                               
                             
 
                                        FOUND by Saline Yoon                                          
Keys. Money. More things than can remember I’ve lost but only once did I ever lose a book. Ironically I know exactly where I lost it, in my library, misplaced. It was easier to purchase another copy than to find it. While book shopping I found FOUND.  FOUND by Salina Yoon is a story about a bear who finds a stuffed toy rabbit and while searching for the owner the bear begins to care for the rabbit as his friend. Bright colorful illustrations almost tells the story without words, but with the words, makes FOUND a sweet, charming story. Salina Yoon applies in her writing a pastel softness of loss without ever being overwhelming for a small child, and that makes FOUND a happy story. FOUND…a beauty of a word.  
                                                                           
                                                                        
      
 You Are (Not) Small by Anna Kang and Christopher Weyant         
C.U.T.E.! You are (Not) Small is cute enough to make a person think of this book in July for a Christmas gift. It’s about the perceptions we have of others. While reading You Are (Not) Small it is easy to slip into the characters’ voices because it’s so engaging. The illustrations, that are adorable, marry the words. If the cover makes you smile, the contents will make you laugh. You Are (Not) Small is the kind of book you can read to someone and with someone. Written for kids and luckily there’s a kid in most of us. Short. Funny. Cute. Silly. Smart. Perfect. You Are (Not) Small by Anna Kang and Christopher Weyant is available in paperback and Kindle.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                     

                              Petectives: Under Fire by Robert J. Smith

     I was sitting on the side of my bed, reading while laughing loudly, until my ajar bedroom door opened wider and Yoshi, our big gray cat, entered, giving me notice with his seriously judgmental green eyes that I was making too much noise.  I quieted my laughter.  Yoshi jumped on my bed, looked at the kindle, then at me, and looked at the kindle again.  His eyes never smiled. He left my room without really speaking as cats have that way about them.  I began laughing all over again because I was reading Robert J. Smith’s first book of the series Petectives, and his characters captured the nuances of cats so completely while at the same time I saw that essence in our cat, and Robert J. Smith’s book was inspired by one of his cats named Yoshi too.

     Ever since I finished Robert J. Smith last book, I have been waiting for his latest book,
inspired by both of his cats, Gatsby and Yoshi, in the Petectives series, titled Petectives: Under Fire. Together they make up the duo of petectives who solve mystery crimes in their neighborhood. I said it in my first review of his book, and I hope you read it further down on this page, and I will say it again but differently. Gatsby and Yoshi have such a dry sense of humor they do not tell jokes, they are just naturally funny  because Robert J. Smith was born to write.   Petectives: Under Fire has a community of characters with such different and distinctive personalities it becomes the doorway into their lives. The way Gatsby and Yoshi interact, annoyed themselves by cat behavior makes Petectives: Under Fire by Robert J. Smith a very worth while , funny read.  I enjoyed the tightly woven threads of the mystery that makes the outcome a clever plot. It almost teases the reader to solve it but only Gatsby and Yoshi can do that. Petectives: Under Fire and the entire series is for kids and adults. Dog lovers would like Robert J. Smith's books. As I am finishing writing this review about Petectives: Under Fire by Robert J. Smith, I am also waiting for the next book in this series.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

 
  The Sea, The Storm, and the Mangrove Tangle by Lynne Cherry
 Books have been a part of Animal Blogging With Dill The Cat from the start. The Sea, The Storm, and the Mangrove Tangle by Lynne Cherry has a special landmark for us because it was the first book a viewer recommended. We found it to be an intelligent, beautiful book with a compelling message. And just as it was recommended to us, we recommend it to all of our viewers. 

The Sea, The Storm, and the Mangrove Tangle by Lynne Cherry tells the story of what happened to a seed that fell from a mangrove tree, traveled far by wind and water currents. The seed eventually take root along the banks of the water and over decades, grows. Lynne Cherry marries the fiction of her story, narratives are through the voices of the animals, to the non-fiction reality how the mangrove tree’s crucial placement in the ecosystem is needed for the survival of many species.  
                          
Reading The Sea, The Storm, and the Mangrove Tangle presents itself in such a way it plants its own seed as it speaks to all of us about our relationship with nature and animals. Beautifully illustrated The Sea, The Storm, and the Mangrove Tangle by Lynne Cherry heightens the awareness of our connection to all forms of life an umbilical cord exist. To our viewer who recommended this very important book, thank you again!
                                                                                                                             
 
                                                   

     
                          Tell Me How You Say Good Night 
               by Teddy O’Malley and Angie Dickens
 

     “What are you doing?”
     It was my first year in the seventh grade. My mother just informed me that she would not wake me up in the morning for school again. I was trying to figure out how to set the alarm on the clock. But I was raised old school. 
     “Give me the clock,” she said.
     After handing my mother the clock she looked at the back, pulled a couple of gizmos off that set the alarm and threw them in the trash. She then gave the clock back to me and said, “I do not believe in using alarms on clocks, wake up without one and you better not be late.”
 Real old school.
But when I was much younger going to bed was kinder. I was never told to stop reading and turn out the lights. I literally slept with books.  

When Teddy O’Malley and Angie Dickens created Tell Me How You Say Good Night they really took an old school ritual, reading a child a bedtime story, and created their own personalized niche that makes their book so cute and smart, I think it has a subtleness of brilliance.  Intertwined in the story, puppies getting ready for bedtime, hence the title Tell Me How You Say Good Night, Teddy O’Malley and Angie Dickens smartly integrates teaching children how to say ‘good-night’ in several languages (with pronunciations included). 
     I believe Tell Me How You Say Good Night is so smart and entertaining until it goes beyond a bedtime story and becomes a book that should used in day care and schools. It would not take too long before children would be able to read it back to the ones who read it to them, in all the languages, with an understanding of the words. It would not be a parroting because Tell Me How You Say Good Night has a great concept that is well executed. 
hen speaking to Teddy O’Malley she informed me she is working on a sequel titled, Tell Me How You Say I Love You that is expected to be published early next year.  I can envision an entire series based on Tell Me How You Say Good Night by Teddy O’Malley and Angie Dickens.  I am a firm believer when children are introduced to books at an early age that becomes the start of their personal libraries, their own hives.  Tell Me How You Say Good Night by Teddy O’Malley and Angie Dickens is a hive book. If you want to get a peek at Tell Me How You Say Good Night check out their book trailer on YouTube  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hB8PD2TR8jU                                                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                         
 Mr. Pish’s Woodland Adventure and Mr. Pish Goes to the Farm
                                   by K.S. Brooks



Jo, from Inknbeans Press, recommended that we take a look at the educational book series of Mr. Pish authored by K.S. Brooks. We must thank her.  It was troubling to learn the recent news of Mr. Pish’s passing.  No one wants the brutal raw grief of a loved animal’s death. So it may seem odd that I would say I feel for people who never experienced such grief but I feel for them because it means they have not experience a great love of an animal. It is time.  Overdue in fact.  But overdue no longer. We are not only shaped by those we love when they are living, we are still shaped by them after their death. To honor animals who have passed and their guardians, Animal Blogging With Dill The Cat  will post animals who are available for adoption to increase another animal’s chance to have a guardian.

To K.S. Brooks and family, we cannot imagine heaven without animals.
 
K.S. Brooks, author and Mom of Mr. Pish, a curly fur, jack russell terrier, created an educational series of books for children that we would not only ask parents to consider but schools and other organizations whose goal is to teach children to read at an early age. There are so many good things about this series until it needs to be said, to those K.S. Brooks acknowledged and thanked in Mr. Pish books, to all of you, “Bravo.”  With photographs, the series about Mr. Pish exploring the world, and encouraging children to do the same, be it a trail, a farm, or one’s backyard. Throughout the adventures, in a conversational tone, Mr. Pish teaches children to create their own journals, offering Mr. Pish’s website and Facebook to help. In asking questions Mr. Pish's books develop children to have a new perspective of the world around them, a grounded respect for animals, and creates an excitement to discover. Everything is told through the eyes of Mr. Pish whose ‘voice’ feels like one is talking to a friend.  In his passing Mr. Pish left timeless books for learning but he also did something else.  When children are taught to read it is the same as giving them an inheritance.


                                             


 
  PETECTIVES by Robert J. Smith

The mixed colored tabby lived somewhere in the neighborhood and when we were on the porch or in the yard he would visit regularly. One day when we were going inside, he just walked in with us. If his guardians ever wondered where was their cat, he might have been in our living room, sitting on a lap, being rocked in a rocking chair while looking at television. He liked that. We gave him the name Jafar, and he responded to it.  Cats have secret lives.

When Robert J. Smith wrote Petectives the reader enters that secret whimsical, humorous world without effort because Robert J. Smith has the exceptional talent to deliver witty lines, combined with capturing the behavior traits of animals, creating characters so well developed you can ‘hear’ their voices reading dialogue. The two main characters Yoshi and Gatsby were inspired by Robert J. Smith’s two cats with the same names. This duo makes up Petectives who are working on a mystery that is cleverly written. You can try but will not guess the ending. The soooooo very dry wit of their humor, that reminded me of Bob Newhart, kept me laughing.   Petectives really is a charming story, told in a delightful tone, that makes a good read for kids, adults, or together. Petectives by Robert J. Smith is not only a book you can read together, but laugh. Robert J. Smith has also written Petectives: Christmas Party. To like one book is to adore both. Plus Robert J. Smith is currently working on his third book in the series titled Petectives: Under Fire. To adore both would be to love all three.


 


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