Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Everything for a dog by Ann M Martin

Christmas is the perfect time to read this book because it contains a wonderful Christmas wish list :

HENRY
What I would like for Christmas

1. Treasure Island
2. biography of Jackie Robinson
3.  any Hardy Boys books I don't have, you can check my bookshelves the books are in number order
4.  dog
5.  oil paints
6.  baseball players autograph any one will be fine
7.  doghouse
8.  sketchpad
9.  everything for a dog

Now let's take a closer look at this list - it has a clever design - can you guess what Henry really wants for Christmas?  His mum and dad are librarians so he thought they would like the way he put Treasure Island as number one.  Henry does love to read but he also loves baseball and art.  Henry puts his real request for a dog after several books.  He thinks this is clever.  This was Henry's list two years ago and he did receive items 1,2,3,5,6 and 8 but not the dog, doghouse or anything else for a dog.

There are three 'voices' in this poignant story - Henry, Charlie and a dog called Bone.  Henry desperately wants a dog but his parents keep saying no, Charlie has a wonderful dog called Sunny who is helping him cope with an enormous family catastrophe and Bone the dog is looking for a family.  How the lives of these three characters are linked will totally surprise you.

This book is a companion to A dog's life which I read about four years ago and loved.  I give this book ten out of ten. I guess you can tell I loved it.  You might also like Dog by Daniel Pennac, One dog and his boy by Eva Ibbotson, or either of these American classics - Shiloh or Where the red fern Grows.

Here is a video of Ann M Martin talking about her book.  You can also read an extract of this book here.

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