Book Review: Two Dog Books for Summer Reading
Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sex
“A Dog’s Courage” by W. Bruce Cameron
c.2021, Forge Books $26.99 / $36.50 Canada 288 pages
“Dogwinks” by SQuire Rushnell and Louise DuArt
c.2020, Howard Books / Atria $19.99 / $26.99 Canada 285 pages
Your pooch is a first-class mess maker.
But what are you gonna do? A clean house won’t love you, play ball, snuggle on the sofa, or take you for a walk. You can’t teach a clean house cool new tricks and it can’t teach you, either. So this summer, ignore the mess, and grab one of these great books about dogs…
If you’ve ever loved a pup who had an unknown past, you know how much she appreciates her new home. When Bella becomes lost in the wilderness and is rescued and adopted by Lucas and Olivia, she’s very relieved and happy. But in “A Dog’s Courage” by W. Bruce Cameron, a dog like Bella never forgets her past.
Even so, she surely enjoyed her new people though she sometimes couldn’t understand the words they were using. Camping with them was different than being in the wild alone, but Bella was getting used to that, too. And then one weekend, while on such a trip, the brush near their campsite exploded in flames, there was so much confusion, and Bella was separated from her people, as she was once before.
Desperately wanting to return to Lucas and Olivia, Bella begins to search for them when she finds a friend from her past, who leaves Bella with a responsibility. This gives her two options: stay, and accept this new burden; or find the people she’s come to love.
Before we get to the second book here, there’s something you need to know first.
“Godwinks” are what author SQuire Rushnell and Louise DuArt calls those positive nudges and maybe-not-so-coincidental little “messages” of encouragement that we humans sometimes get from beyond. With that in mind, Rushnell asks if it’s possible that God uses dogs to send those messages; in his new book, “Dogwinks,” he offers stories to convince you…
When Ruby, half of an awesome K-9 team, finds a little boy, her save is a Godwink to her handler, the boy, and the child’s family. As Liz says goodbye to her beloved Ginger, the dog she’s had for much of her life, there’s a knock on the door and she’s handed a Godwink that comforts her. A dog lost becomes a dog found at the worst of times, a Godwink to the children in his family when they need it most. Another lost dog, a wee Westie, makes his way thirty blocks in downtown New York City, a miracle inside “a bilingual dogwink!”
You know how you sometimes feel pressed for time during the summer, and a book seems like a big commitment? “Dogwinks” is what you need, then: each of the stories inside this book are short; most are a few pages long and quick to read. Best of all, they’re uplifting, inspirational, and appropriate for dog lovers ages 12-to-adult.
If these books don’t seem like a good fit for you, then ask your favorite librarian or bookseller. They’ll have suggestions for you because, when it comes to books about dogs, there’s a mess of good ones out there.
The Bookworm is Terri Schlichenmeyer. Terri has been reading since she was 3 years old and she never goes anywhere without a book. She lives on a hill in Wisconsin with two dogs and 15,000 books.