Dogs

Dogography: Children’s Review

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Dogography by Maree Coote
Genre: Children’s, Art, Non-Fiction
Publication: June 1, 2020
Publisher: (Imprint) Melbournestyle Books
Distributor: Walker Australia-HEDS
Source: Review copy from publisher – Thank You
Rating: ✵✵✵✵✵

Every part of me’s a letter Does that help you see me better? Look very closely, Can you see the hidden letters that spell me?

How do you spell DOG? In this brand new collection of typographic doggy delights this award winning illustrator show you a whole new way to spell your best friend. Each picture is created using only the letters that spell each dog’s name, and is partnered with a brief, amusing verse. The exact fonts used are provided in a key on each page to help readers find all the letter shapes and that spell each dog. Includes Teachers’ Notes.

There isn’t much I can say about this book, being that it is more of an activity book than a storybook. But it’s pages are filled with rhyming text and adorable and cleaver artwork. My boys and I found this book to be a cute and fun treat.

Ethan (3), Riley (6, almost 7) and I had great fun ‘reading’ Dogography together. I read the small text on each page to the boys, then had then find all the different letters that make up the names of the different breeds within the art.

Once we had finished ‘reading’ the book and I asked them if they liked it, they were both all big smiles and nodding heads and of course, Ethan let out his excited AGAIN cry.

This book is well worth the purchase for your kids or grandkids and makes for a fantastic activity to do together. It would even make a cute coffee table book for kid-free dog lovers. All in all, Dogography is a five-star book, that I highly recommend.

Dogography by Maree Coote – A fantastic book for parents and grandparents looking for an interactive read, or dog lovers after a cute coffee table book.

 

View on: Walker’s Website | Goodreads | Booktopia | Book Depository
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Until next time, enjoy your shelves 🙂
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The Dog, Ray by Linda Coggin

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25951371

Published: October 1st 2015 by Hot Key Books (first published August 1st 2010)

Age Rating: 9+

Pages: 288

Thank you to Ms Coggin and Hot Key Books for giving me a copy to read in exchange for a honest review.

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*     *     *     *     *     S y n o p s i s     *     *     *     *     *

A girl, a dog, a boy, a journey.

“When my death came, it was swift. Swift as a racing horse.”

Twelve-year-old Daisy has just died in a car crash. But in a twist of fate, and through a heavenly bureaucratic mistake Daisy ends up, not where she is supposed to be – but in the body of a dog. Daisy may now be inhabiting a dog’s body, but inside she is still very much Daisy, and is as bouncy, loyal, positive, energetic as she ever was.

Daisy’s only thought is to somehow be reunited with her parents, who she knows will be missing her. And this is how she meets Pip, a boy who is homeless and on his own journey, and a lasting, tender and very moving friendship between boy and dog/girl is formed.

A charming and beautifully written story with a bit of quirk and a lot of heart.

*     *     *     *     *     M y      T h o u g h t s    *     *     *     *     *

Yes, this book is a story of death and reincarnation, but it’s also a story of love, friendship and second chances. It is heart-breaking and heart-warming all at the same time. It is quite an easy read, that has a nice flow and fast pace.

In Taking the wrong door, Daisy who was a twelve-year-old girl, goes into a new life as a new born puppy with all her memories. The door she was supposed to take would have erased her memories, wiping her slate clean.

Dog Daisy is determined to get back to her human parents and recreate some former resemblance of her old life – this doesn’t go very well.

A sequence of events (I don’t want to give too much away!) finds Daisy out on her own and struggling to stay alive a stray dog. Fate and a drifter named Jack bring Pip and her together. It is Pip who gives Daisy the name Ray (as in a ray of sunshine), which is the first step in Daisy’s healing process.

Pip is a fourteen-year-old boy who has run away from his foster carers on a mission to track down his father.

Pip and Ray need each other and they form a deep and pure bond.

There are plenty of twists and turns in Pip and Ray’s adventure/search for Pip’s dad and even though it’s not what he imagined, Pip gets a happy ending.

Slowly Daisy slips away as she comes to terms with her death and embraces the life of Ray. In the end she is at peace and happy.

The way Ms Coggin wrote the way Ray thought was believable and I felt she captured the heart of a dog beautifully in this book.

It is a sweet story with some beautiful characters that I don’t think I’ll forget any time soon.

Purchase Links:

Amazon AU | Amazon US | Booktopia | Book Depository | Amazon UK

Author’s Links:

Website | Facebook | Goodreads

Bittersweet

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We got the keys to our own real home last Wednesday and last Thursday I made my first trip to Bunnings as a homeowner. I picked up the few shower/plumbing items I needed and then made the mistake of walking past the tantalising display of light fittings and lamps on my way out. I was struggling. There was a beautiful $130 floor lamp I wanted, but did not need. I could not bring myself to walk away from the lamp. I bargained with myself that if I didn’t buy the lamp I could go and get a little plant instead. I managed to talk myself around and only left with the necessaries and a plant, and a pot for the plant and a little bag of potting mix. I’ve been back to Bunnings five times since then and I am now no longer allowed to go to a homemaker centre/ garden centre/ hardware store by myself.

We made the big move on the Saturday and had some wonderful friends and family help us get it all carted out by early afternoon.

Later on Saturday some ‘not funny at the time’ things happened. I was driving Shane’s Landcruiser from our ex-rental to our home, I jumped on the brakes like I would in my Lancer and nearly shit myself as it felt like the 4wd wasn’t going to stop (it did, eventually) – then I was driving Shane’s cousins Landcruiser and it broke down on me. Damn thing. So that then left me to drive the hire truck, ahhhhh, felt like I was driving a bus, but least it had good brakes and didn’t break down.

I lost my Buster boy on Monday. I haven’t told anyone other than my mum and grandmother until now and I’m tearing up as I write this. We had to put him down.

I’m so angry.

He was a fifteen-year-old wolfhound-X and a total sook. He had gotten crook in June and been on medication since. The poor boy was in constant pain. We had no choice, he was suffering. I will never forget him and I hurts that Riley didn’t get to have more time with him. I have cried and cried as a child wanting her best friend back. I’m so angry that there was nothing I could do. I feel I’ve let him down and I do not want to let him go. Buster didn’t even get to see our house.

Ellie our (four-year-old wolfhound-X) has been staying at my mother in-laws since the move, as we have had to put up a fence to keep her and Riley in. I cannot wait to get Ellie back so I can snuggle her endlessly and embrace the love and joy that she radiates. Dogs can bring so much light and love into our lives; it is just not fair that they don’t live as long as us.

So I’ve gotten Riley’s bedroom and bathroom set up, the rest of the House is still full of boxes, but the fence is up and Ellie is coming home tomorrow.

Luv from Dog by Murray Ball

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Romances come and go. But when a man suffers the scorn of a scented seductress, the pain of parting, the ache of a lonely heart, when he’s bursting with shame, humiliation and jealousy, where can he turn? To his best friend, of course: his dog.

luv from dog

 

‘Luv from Dog’ is a selection of Murray Ball’s 1975 – 1990 Footrot Flats cartoon strips and standalone images all dealing with love and lust. It is a light and humours read that I really enjoyed. You cannot help but fall in love with “Dog” and wish him success in chasing away that She Devil Cheeky Hobson.dog heart

There is not much more I can say really – 5 out of 5 stars for an iconic comic and the Man, Mr Bell behind the DOG.go on

Scoda: Friday Fictioneers 100 word story challenge

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I looked out the window of the surgery in which I worked and saw him down by the docks again.

I wondered where his owner was or if he was owned at all.

I walked down and fed him half of my lunch, something I’d been doing for weeks.

This day the shaggy little mess was particularly forlorn, so I decided to take him to the pound.

He was never claimed and he officially became mine.

I cleaned him up and named him Scoda.

He then spent the rest of his days loved, happy, healthy and with his tummy full.

 

Photo Prompt:teds-view (1)

Michelle’s Weekly Pet Challenge

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Michelle’s Weekly Pet Challenge (week 13)

Ellie One

My Ellie Girl doing what she loves, RUNNING!!!!!

Ellie is my three year old, very short Wolfhound cross, but you wouldn’t know she had any wolfhound in her looking at her. She is loving, playful and very energetic. She loves to play fetch in and out of the water, she loves cuddles and breaking into the house to find where the dog treats are hidden.

This is a photo I managed to snap of her with my phone as she was running back to me at our local dog park.

petchallenge