FernFolio » dogs

Stanley at Sea by Linda Bailey and Bill Slavin

fernfolio — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:51:44 +0000

Ordered to “Get!” when he begs at the picnic table for food, Stanley wanders down to the river and finds his good friends Alice and Nutsy and Gassy Jack. Bored and hungry, the dogs discover a trash can filled to the brim with all sorts of delicious treats, only to watch as the garbage truck carts away their feast. Then Stanley sniffs out a ham sandwich left in a rowboat tied to a dock. When the dogs pile in to get the sandwich, the boat comes untied and they find themselves carried down river and out to sea.
Where are they going, his friends ask Stanley, and, in a moment of inspiration, he tells them that they are off to find the fence at the end of Outside. What awaits for them there is the stuff that dogs’ dreams are made of!
Engagingly told from a dog’s perspective and illustrated by Bill Slavin’s wonderful pictures, Linda Bailey’s Stanley at Sea is a terrific sequel to Stanley’s Party and Stanley’s Wild Ride!
FernFolio Editor

You’re a Bad Man, Mr. Gum! by Andy Stanton

fernfolio — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 15:36:53 +0000

Mr. Gum lives in a great old disaster of a house in the village of Lamonic Bibber. A nasty, lazy old man with filthy habits, he hates housework, animals (other than insects) and most of the village people, except Billy William the Third, a butcher whose shop is as smelly and unpleasant as Mr. Gum’s house. But Mr. Gum’s garden is lovely – full of beautiful flowers, shrubs, trees and lawns. It’s lovely because of the bad-tempered fairy who lives in Mr. Gum’s bathtub and who hits Mr. Gum with a frying pan if he doesn’t keep it looking nice.
When a big friendly dog named Jake shows up in Lamonic Bibber, the residents are thrilled. They love Jake’s happy and exuberant nature, and look forward to his visits to their gardens, even though he tends to make rather a mess, because they believe those visits bring good luck. However, when Jake discovers Mr. Gum’s garden and starts paying daily visits to roll around in the flower beds and tear up the grass, Mr. Gum is furious. The daily messes have the bad-tempered fairy hitting Mr. Gum to get him out and working in the garden when all Mr. Gum wants to do is laze about and play Butcher Darts with Billy William the Third.
So Mr. Gum devises an evil plan to rid himself of Jake. Only a little girl called Polly (by her friends) can stop Mr. Gum, if she can convince Friday O’Leary to help her when he seems more interested in playing tennis.
You’re a Bad Man, Mr. Gum! is a hilarious adventure, full of quirky characters and told by an author who clearly has a highly developed sense of the absurd! A fun read for students from Grade 3 to 6, this book is reminiscent of the works of Roald Dahl!
FernFolio Editor

Lucky’s Mountain by Dianne Maycock

fernfolio — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 02:05:18 +0000

After her father’s death in a mining accident, Maggie Sullivan, her sister, Elly, and their mother must leave their cosy home and go to live with Aunt Hortense, because houses in the small mining town perched up in the mountains of British Columbia are reserved for miners and their families. For a young girl still grieving her father’s loss, saying good-bye to her best friend, Abigail, her favourite haunts in and around the community, and the home which holds so many happy memories is wrenching, but the thought of leaving behind her dog, Lucky, is more than Maggie can contemplate. Given to her by her Pa, after he found the abandoned pup caught in a leg-hold trap, Maggie loves Lucky and, since her father’s death, believes that the dog is the only soul left who really knows and loves her in return. But Aunt Hortense runs a boarding house and has made it clear that, while she welcomes Thelma Sullivan and her daughters, there is no room for an exuberant three-legged dog accustomed to roaming.
Maggie tries to find Lucky a new home among her classmates at school and around town, but, in the midst of the Great Depression of the 1930s, food is hard to come by and no one has the time or money to look after a dog who will never earn his keep. In desperation, she confronts Mr. Winters, the miner owner, and demands that she and her family be allowed to remain, angrily reminding him that his mine has killed her father, before Mr. Winters loses his temper and strikes Lucky, who has rushed at him to defend Maggie. Later, a rather contrite Mr. Winters suggests to Maggie that she go and speak to Louie Jenkins about taking Lucky. Maggie is dismayed by the mine owner’s suggestion, because Louie Jenkins, who lives in Pig Valley and tends to mine ponies who are too ill to work, is called Crazy Louie, and townsfolk whisper frightening stories about him. However, determined to find a good home for Lucky, she sets off to find and meet the mysterious Louie. She encounters, instead, two boys, Jock and Davy, class bullies, who taunt her and threaten Lucky. When the confrontation results in Maggie tumbling off a cliff, the boys take off and Lucky finds Crazy Louie, who takes the girl back to his cabin.
Maggie discovers that Crazy Louie is a wild-looking man with a badly-disfigured face, whose speech is hard, at times, to understand, and whose strangled laughter sounds like barking. She finds out that he is prone to pointing his shot gun at people who arrive uninvited, but that he is oddly shy for someone accused by others as having gotten away with murder. Oddly enough, Lucky takes to Crazy Louie, deeply wounding Maggie with his apparent betrayal. Odder still, the strange and frightening and gentle man seems to understand Maggie better than she understands herself, and might be the one who can help her say goodbye to her past and move on into the future.
Dianne Maycock has written a lovely story about a young girl’s relationship with her dead father, a loving, yet practical dog, and a man who sees into the hearts of them both.
FernFolio Editor

Gemini Summer by Iain Lawrence

fernfolio — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 01:13:49 +0000

In their house at the end of the road down in Hog’s Hollow, that year of 1965, the River family dreams. While Flo writes her epic of life in pre-Civil War America, she dreams of fame and fortune and of moving her family to a mansion in the South. Twelve year-old Beau builds models of fighter jets and space capsules, watches his hero, Gus Grissom, travel into space, and dreams of becoming an astronaut. Charlie “Old Man” River dreams terrible dreams of nuclear war and starts to build a fallout shelter in his family’s yard. Nine year-old Danny River draws dogs, plays with dogs, encourages strays to follow him home, and dreams of one day soon having a dog of his own.
When tragedy strikes, the River family is frozen in pain and regret. Flo puts away her novel, Charlie shovels the mountain of soil back into its hole, and Danny rebuffs the overtures of affection offered by a little half-starved pup who worms his way into Flo’s and then Charlie’s hearts. It seems that none of them can allow themselves to by happy – or to dream – again.
Gradually, however, Danny begins to find comfort in the little dog’s company. With his bright brown eyes, his odd way of ‘speaking’ and his almost uncanny ability to read the boy, Rocket helps Danny begin to overcome his grief and guilt.
When Rocket is threatened by animal control officers, Danny makes a desperate bid to save him, one that involves reaching all the way to the stars themselves.
Iain Lawrence’s Gemini Summer is about love and dreams, and their loss. Set in the mid-1960s, against the backdrop of post-war hope and prosperity, as well as post-war trauma and fears of nuclear Armageddon, this is a deeply moving story. Simply told from the perspective of Danny, this book is worth reading. It will stay with you long after the last words are read.
Gemini Summer won the Governor General’s prize for Children’s Literature.
FernFolio Editor

Dancing Through the Snow by Jean Little

fernfolio — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 01:17:42 +0000

It’s snowing and Christmas is just around the corner, but eleven year-old Min Randall is not looking forward to the celebration. She hates Christmas because it only serves to remind her that she doesn’t have a family of her own. When her foster mother abruptly packs up her things and delivers her back to her Children’s Aid caseworker’s office, Min braces herself for the inevitable discussion about what has gone wrong, and her innumerable faults. Time and again, Min is returned to Children’s Aid by foster parents who find her cold, heartless, sullen, sly.
Then Dr. Jess Hart, whom Min knows from a stay in hospital, arrives to overhear the discussion between Min’s foster mother and her caseworker, and, furious at them both, announces that she’s taking Min home. Jess is herself a product of the foster care system, and, unlike Min’s previous foster parents, she doesn’t expect Min to be other than she is.
Min meets Toby, Jess’ twelve year-old godson, and, despite her initial reluctance, learns to like him. She finds a little half-starved, abused dog, whose experiences in life seem to mirror her own. She meets and makes friends with Penny, her first friend ever. She slowly discovers that she can trust Jess not to grow tired of her and abandon her.
Dancing Through the Snow is a story about the importance of trust and honesty and patience and love, and about how some of the best families are made and not born.
FernFolio Editor

Barry, Boyhound by Andy Spearman

fernfolio — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 20:33:30 +0000

Imagine waking up one day to find you have become a hound. This is exactly what happens to Barry one Monday morning. Oh, he looks pretty much the same as usual on the outside, but he’s definitely more canine than human on the inside. Barry suddenly finds smells exciting – the grosser, the better. And somehow breakfast tastes better when licked up off the floor, along with a worm he finds lurking in a corner of the back hallway.
Barry gets lost on the way to school and has a number of adventures with animals, all of whom know that, regardless of his appearance, this boy is now a hound! If his visit with a poodle gets him soaked to the skin and minus his pants, as least Barry’s still in one piece, as least until he gets into a fight with a bunch of squirrels!
And what about Barry’s family? What is his mom going to think when she finds out that Barry can’t talk, but only growl and bark? Will his sister, Janey, who’s always found Barry to be a pain, notice that he’s even weirder and more annoying than usual?
This is the very first novel I’ve ever read that comes with footnotes, lists, appendices, an index, and diagrams of the main character’s brain. You won’t want to miss the Boy, Are You In Trouble Now, the 5 Phases of Upset Mothers, or The 7 Dadly Sins lists, if only to compare them with own your experiences. You’ll also want to photocopy the coupon good for one free spanking of the book’s author, Andy Spearman, otherwise knows as the Spearman Spanking Special. Too bad we don’t all live in Tahiti.
FernFolio Editor