I SEE YOU by a seventeen-year-old Navajo student named Isaac Coyote, which we found at the excellent Heard Museum.
Review: DOG LOST, by Ingrid Lee
I saw this book in my local library and was immediately drawn to the title and cover. Written in 2008, and based on a true story, it’s a powerful tale of a pit bull puppy, Cash, who, in protecting her best friend, MacKenzie, angers the boy’s father, who hauls her off to the middle of nowhere to fend for herself. At first everyone is scared of the dog, since she’s considered a “dangerous breed,” but Cash is no vicious predator. Not only does she refuse to fight when she is captured by the leader of a horrid dog-fighting ring, but she ends up saving the lives of more than one human, as well as that of a cat used as bait by the dog fighters. Written by a Canadian writer, Ingrid Lee, the book was published at a time when Ontario was considering whether to ban the breed, which would have led to the euthanasia of entire shelters. Cash is a shining example of the ludicrous cruelty of such a law. And yet, I know from the Best Friends documentary, “The Champions,” about the rehabilitation of the Michael Vick dogs, that Ontario does have such a ban, so, sadly, it passed. I remember Montreal was deciding whether to enact something similar a year or two ago. It was put on hold then. This book reminds me to check up on that. I really hope it never passed. As “Dog Lost” shows, it is people who are the villains, not the dogs.
Review: PAX, by Sara Pennypacker
I loved this book so much. Couldn’t put it down. I’ve been reading so many really compelling children’s books. In some ways they are more full of compassion and heart and soul than many adult books these days.
This is the story of a boy and his little fox named Pax. The boy finds Pax as a small cub and raises him to fox-hood. The setting is rather timeless and placeless. The boy and his father live in the country somewhere near a forest and there’s a war about to begin. But it’s not the Civil War era; it’s a modern war because the father, an engineer, is called upon to create land mines. When the father must leave, he takes the boy to live with an elderly relative, who can’t live with animals. This means the boy must drop Pax off in the forest.
As Pax tries to learn how to survive in the wild, the boy worries that Pax will get killed. The story alternates back and forth between the two, as they search for each other. I won’t say how it ends but it’s full of truth and beauty and love. Both characters stole my heart and I will never forget Pax.
I recently visited Joshua Tree National Park. In their gift shop I found a photo of a fox. It reminded me of little Pax, so I bought it and hung it on my wall. 🙂
Review: DOG MEDICINE, by Julie Barton
I ended up really liking this book. But I admit I had to struggle through the first third of it. It’s not easy for animal lovers because Barton writes about all the dogs and pets she had before getting her beloved Bunker, and they don’t all fare as well as he did.
Since early adulthood, Barton struggled with clinical depression, though she wasn’t initially diagnosed with it. It stemmed from a horribly abusive childhood at the hands of her older brother, which her mother somehow didn’t realize was happening or just didn’t care about. It’s horrendously sad and you really feel for her. She has a breakdown in New York after starting her first job and returns to her hometown, Columbus, Ohio, to recover. She struggles with her illness, is originally diagnosed, ever so wrongfully and harmfully, with anorexia, eventually receives a proper diagnosis, and then finds Bunker, who changes everything. Through his love – his sheer existence, she is able to begin her life for real, get a job, move to another city on the opposite coast, become independent.
Early on, Bunker gets very sick and the lengths Barton goes to to save him – and thus herself – are beautifully heartbreaking. He, it turns out, needs her just as much as she needs him. You end up empathizing so much with her, loving and needing her best friend like she does, and feeling her panic when he can’t always be around her. That’s what was so amazing about her writing: she drew you into her story, her life so powerfully that you felt like you became her. Even some of her more inscrutable behavior, you came to accept and even want to defend. I’ve never suffered from serious depression before, and by the end, I felt like I really understood the mental illness, the panic, the despair, and how people who go off their meds can tragically end up suicidal.
So glad I stuck with this book. It was so richly rewarding.
Review: FENWAY AND HATTIE, by Victoria J. Coe
I found this book at my library. Cover was just so enticing 🙂 And I’ve read so many wonderful middle-grade books lately. I read it in one sitting and loved it. Fenway a is jolly, spunky little Jack Russell terrier (and who doesn’t love a terrier!) who loves his “short human,” Hattie. One day the family moves from their Boston-area apartment to the suburbs. Fenway is deeply confused. Where is his beloved dog park? Why is the new floor where Hattie puts his food bowl so slippery and scary? And, most importantly, why is Hattie so interested in her new next-door neighbor and in learning to play softball and not with him? Fenway must find a way to get Hattie back. He tries all kinds of things that don’t work, some of which make you just cringe knowing how much they will backfire – such as eating her new mitt! Makes sense though – if the mitt is taking your best friend from you, well then you must destroy that blasted mitt! But finally, he does it – he and Hattie both adjust and find happiness in their new lives.
This book was cute and funny, but it also made me think about how difficult it can be for pets to adjust to a new environment. One time when we got to our new apartment, my cat wandered around for five seconds then went straight back into her carrier and cried in it all night. I couldn’t entice her into bed with me for anything. Moves can by discomfiting and even scary for everyone in the family, most of all those who can’t be told in so many words not to worry, that everything will be okay. Take time and care with your fur babies!