The Wonderful Nose...
The wonderous ability of dogs to trace multiple scents, enabling them to "see" in the dark, plays a major role in all the books in the Planet Of The Dogs series.
A dog's perception of the world around them incudes acute hearing and eyesight with special features that enhance their ability to hunt. Their eyes, for instance, are exceptionally good at seeing movement.
As the adventures unfold in our books, children learn how the dogs sense of smell allows them to follow a trail, find and rescue a King lost in a snowstorm, and see danger in the darkness. As an example, in Castle In The Mist However, it is their sense of smell that is truly extraordinary and provides them with an ongoing multi-dimensional picture of their world. We wanted children reading our books to get an understanding of this sense and the amazing things that dogs can do.
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The illustration of Billy, above, is from Castle In The Mist. The photo, below, is of my wife, Stella Mustanoja-McCarty, and our family dog Dafi.
Dafi is the model and inspiration for both Buddy in the Planet Of The Dogs and Snow Valley Heroes, A Christmas Story, as well as Billy in Castle In The Mist.
When he was younger, Dafi was trained in search and rescue. Like all shepherds, he is always aware of where his people are and taking care of them.
Walking with Dafi is a reminder of how interesting things can be in the natural world and an education in how dogs use their amazing sense of smell.
A dog's sense of smell allows them to sense an odor at nearly 100 million times lower concentration than we humans. No wonder that life is so interesting for dogs.
************************************************************************************************************************or For sample chapters and more information on the Planet Of The Dogs book series, please visit our web site: http://www.planetofthedogs.net
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If you are a librarian in Massachusetts...
Please visit the IPNE (Independent Publishers of New England) book exhibit at the MLA conference, May 6-8, where a diverse selection of excellent books are on display including our illustrated fantasy-adventure first chapter books from the Planet Of The Dogs series.
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Therapy Dogs Update...
Ruth Dyer teaches second grade Western Academy for International Studies, a magnet school in Danbury, CT.
Students who are reading with therapy dogs in her classroom are mostly struggling readers working on fluency...they are "reading the Just Right Books in order to progress and pracice the strategies." She tells us that Planet Of The Dogs and Castle In The Mist are enjoyed as a "read alound"..."I have have many students with dogs so we love the characters..."
Pages For Preston...
Julie Hauck, the second and third grade teacher who developed the Pages For Preston Progam at the Longfellow Elementary School, in Shebygan, WI, is also a certifed therapy dog trainer.
Julie has now trained Frankie, the Walk 'n Roll Dog and Frankie's mom, Barb Techel, has written a new Frankie book based on her therapy dog experiences. The book will be released later this year.
Julie's students are enthusiastic about Pages For Preston and often quite insightful. Here's a quote from Caroline, "The dogs calm us down when we pet them so that we can read better."
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"What's so good about uncritical, uncomprimising, unconditional love? Speaking for myself, if anyone, or anything, loves me, I'm only going to feel good about it if I'm loved for my qualities -- or anyway, a quality."
Daniel Pinkwater -- A Walk With Jacques
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