April Promise, Kids, Books and Dogs

 

              

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Out in space, on the other side of the sun, is the  Planet of the Dogs^®..

Dogs have always lived there in peace and happiness.

Long ago there were no dogs on Planet Earth

Peaceful lives were being disrupted...Invaders threatened Green Valley... Children were kidnapped and taken to the Castle in the Mist… two of Santa’s reindeer were missing and there would be no Christmas.

The Planet Of The Dogs series tells of how dogs came down to earth to help bring peace, to teach people about love, loyalty, and courage – and to save Christmas.

All books in the series have the dogs finding non-violent solutions to danger created by violent rulers and warrior tribes.

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You Can Learn to Love 'The Little Prince' All Over Again by Jen Dell

The Little Princeby Antoine de Saint Exupery...a children's classic for adults

Last month was the 70th Anniversary of the publication of the wonderful book, The Little Prince. Here are excerpts from a comprehensive and informative appreciation in the Atlantic Wire by Jen Dell.

..."Of course, the plot is merely the shell encasing a much-more-than fairy tale. It's a reflection upon the meaning of life and death; it's sharp-yet-poignant social criticism about loneliness, friendship, and the way we choose to lead our lives... 

In the 70 years since the novella was published, The Little Prince has been voted the best book of the 20th century in France, translated into more than 250 languages and dialects, and has become one of the best-selling books ever published, with more than 200 million copies sold" 

And here is a quote from the Little Prince: Here is my secret. It is very simple: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. 

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Freedom Service Dogs (FSD)

Imagine Sussanne, a woman, an Iraq war veteran, unable to leave her house for 6 months because of PTSD. Imagine a dog, Cabo, rescued and trained to help her, to support her, to give her a new life. You can see them both on a video (below) about the wonderful work being done by FSD.

 "Fredom Service Dogs(FSD) enhances the lives of people with disabilities by rescuing dogs and custom training them for individual client needs.. They provide lifetime support to their client-dog partners to encourage increased independence and the loving, therapeutic bond between canine and human.

FSD trains rescued dogs. All dogs that they use are rescues, and almost entirely from shelters across the Metro Denver area and the Front Range.

Client-Dog teams consist of a person living with a disability—such as autism, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, or a spinal cord injury—with a highly trained dog. FSD does not discriminate on any basis -- age, race, religon etc.

"Professionally trained service dogs assist their human partners with a variety of tasks including retrieving and carrying objects, opening and closing doors, operating lights, pushing 911 and lifeline buttons, providing brace and balance while walking, and other specialized tasks needed by the client."

The FSD Operation Freedom Program helps returning military veterans; in addition to performing practical assistance for everyday tasks, the dogs are very helpful in healing the effects of PTSD.

All costs, including lifetime support, are paid for by FSD. Their needs for contributions are ongoing.Click here toe see a brief video that will touch your heart: FSDVideo

The all inclusive expense for custom training from start to finish is generally $20,000-$25,000 – but clients are not charged by FSD. They focus their efforts on donating these wonderful animals to disabled people throughout their community to help promote independence for disabled folks in their difficult daily lives.

Any dog that does not fulfill all the comprehensive training requirements is found an adoptive home.

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 April is...

Pets are Wonderful Month and

Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month

 

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NEW YORKER                                      

"Fairy-tale magic is often put across through charged imagery—houses with windows of

spun sugar, dresses the color of sunlight, a horse’s head hung over a gateway, a hedgehog who gores his bride with the prickles on his back. These effects arrive often without logical causes, and always without what C. S. Lewis referred to as psychological “gas.” They challenge us to fill in all the descriptive and causal blanks. For that reason, it should come as no surprise that Einstein recommended fairy tales to parents: 'If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.' "... 

From Maria Tartar's New Yorker Review of Phillip Pullman's book, Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm...Read more:Tartar

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          from the Wall Street Journal...

Don't Burn Your Books—Print Is Here to Stay
The e-book had its moment, but sales are slowing. Readers still want to turn those crisp, bound pages 

By Nicholas Carr

"Lovers of ink and paper, take heart. Reports of the death of the printed book may be exaggerated....Half a decade into the e-book revolution, though, the prognosis for traditional books is suddenly looking brighter. Hardcover books are displaying surprising resiliency. The growth in e-book sales is slowing markedly. And purchases of e-readers are actually shrinking, as consumers opt instead for multipurpose tablets. It may be that e-books, rather than replacing printed books, will ultimately serve a role more like that of audio books—a complement to traditional reading, not a substitute...

From the start, e-book purchases have skewed disproportionately toward fiction, with novels representing close to two-thirds of sales. Digital best-seller lists are dominated in particular by genre novels, like thrillers and romances. Screen reading seems particularly well-suited to the kind of light entertainments that have traditionally been sold in supermarkets and airports as mass-market paperbacks...

Having survived 500 years of technological upheaval, Gutenberg's invention may withstand the digital onslaught as well. There's something about a crisply printed, tightly bound book that we don't seem eager to let go of."  Link to read it all: Carr

—Mr. Carr is the author of "The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains."

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VIDEO:                    

Here's a  big You Tube smile for all -- click here: DiningDogs

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Fantasy, Imagination, and more...

Noted author Isabel Allende was interviewed by the New York Times (April 7 Book Review); here is an excerpt:

"You edited a children’s magazine early in your career and wrote books for
children. What makes for good children’s literature? Do you have favorite books for children?

First of all, books for kids need to be very entertaining. No preaching, no hidden messages, no condescending tone, no didactic stuff. Kids are smart: don’t underestimate their bull detector. Contemporary kids have access to a lot of information, so don’t even try to fool them. I have never been more nervous about my research than when writing for young adults because they pick up every single error. Kids like fantasy, imagination, humor, adventure, villains and suspense. "

 

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World of Wulff

If you are an author with a lifelong passion for dogs...if you are a passionate activist for their well being in a world where cruelty and negligence are everyday
events...then you might be Ariel Wulff and feel compelled to write a book that could make a difference.

Her current book, How to Change the World in Thirty Seconds, a  Web Warriors Guide to Animal Advocacy Online is a guide to the internet made easy, the internet as a tool, the internet as a dog's best friend...all bundled into a lucid, multi-faceted approach for anyone who wants to make the world a better place.

Currently, Wulff resides in a log cabin deep in one of our Nation's National Forests with her lifemate and five dogs. She attributes her love of animals to having been raised by Wulffs.Click here for more information on the World of Wulff.

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 Are libraries an endangered species..?

New York Review Of Books

In an article about the library being an integral and important endangered species in England, Zadie Smith, a wonderful writer with a dancing mind, wrote an article in the NYRB, The North West London Blues. She wrote about the library and certain public spaces threatened by bad political decisions, as vital to our lives. Excerpts appear below. Here is the link to read more:Zadie Smith

"What kind of a problem is a library? It’s clear that for many people it is not a problem at all, only a kind of obsolescence. At the extreme pole of this view is the technocrat’s total faith: with every book in the world online, what need could there be for the physical reality? This kind of argument thinks of the library as a function rather than a plurality of individual spaces. But each library is a different kind of problem and “the Internet” is no more a solution for all of them than it is their universal death knell. Each morning I struggle to find a seat in the packed university library in which I write this, despite the fact every single student in here could be at home in front of their macbook browsing Google Books...

... Nor can the experience of library life be recreated online. It’s not just a matter of free books. A library is a different kind of social reality (of the three dimensional kind), which by its very existence teaches a system of values beyond the fiscal."

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The importance of children's books in opening the mind to the door of life and the world of imagination is beyond measure. The importance of a dog in the life of a child is also beyond measure. It was from thoughts like these that the Planet Of The Dogs Series evolved.

Read sample chapters of all the books in the Planet Of The Dogs series by clicking here:Books

Our books are available through your favorite independent bookstore or via Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Powell's...

Librarians, teachers, bookstores...Order Planet Of The Dogs, Castle In The Mist, and Snow Valley Heroes, A Christmas Tale, through Ingram with a full professional discount.

Therapy reading dog owners, librarians and teachers with therapy reading dog programs -- you can write us at [email protected] and we will send you free reader copies from the Planet of the Dogs Series.

Read Dog Books to Dogs....Ask any therapy reading dog: "Do you like it when the the kids read dog books to you?"

"I love this series of books and Planet of the Dogs sets the stage for those works that follow…This book can be, and should be, read on several different levels…these books are excellent motivators, not only for reading, but for generally living life as it should be led. Finally, the entire work is almost irresistible to dog lovers…"

 Don Blankenship, Teacher, Editor/reviewer, Good Books forKids

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Therapy Dog owner Barb Babikian made us aware of Hope and Heroes.For a long time, Barb and her dogs Lille and Dusty, have spent many hours with children with cancer. 

Hope and Heroes "helps children with cancer and their families by funding the Herbert Irving Child & Adolescent Oncology Center at Columbia University Medical Center, located at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital in New York City."

Every year they have a walk as part of their fund raising effort. 

The 4th Annual Hope & Heroes Walk will be on Sunday May 19th, 2013 in Clinton Cove Park, Manhattan. 9:00am Check-In; 10:15am Start

For more information, click here: Hope. The photo is of Lille and Ben.

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Insights on the significance of fairy tales by Jack Zipes

Excerpts from an interview on the Art of Storytelling Show

"At their best, the storytelling of fairy tales constitute the most profound articulation of the human struggle to form and maintain a civilizing process.

…Fairy tales map out possible ways to attain happiness, to expose and resolve moral conflicts that have deep roots in our species. The effectiveness of fairy tales and other forms of fantastic literature depends on the innovative manner in which we make the information of the tales relevant for the listeners and receivers of the tales. As our environment changes and evolves, so we change the media or modes of the tales to enable us to adapt to new conditions and shape instincts that were not necessarily generated for the world that we have created out of nature. This is perhaps one of the lessons that the best of fairy tales and teach us: we are all misfit for the world, and yet, somehow we must all fit together..." 

Jack Zipes, author of over a dozen books on fairy tales, folklore, and children's literatue, and editor of even more, is Professor Emeritus of the Department of German, Scandinavian and Dutch at the University of Minnesota. Among his publications is his complete translation of the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm....The illustration is by Arthur Rackham.

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I think the brothers Grimm would have enjoyed the Vinegar Works by...

 Edward Gorey... This link will transport you to the offsetting world of Edward Gorey where the darkness is greater than the light...the Gashlycrumb Tinies is not recommended to teach children the alphabet...courtesy of shivabel on YouTube

 "The Vinegar Works -- Three Volumes of Moral Instruction" by Edward Gorey was published for the first time in 1963 by Simon & Shuster, New York, as a three volume set. It contains three stories written and drawn by Edward Gorey: "The Gashlycrumb Tinies", "The Insect God" and "The West Wing".

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Way Cool Dogs offers ongoing advice and information on all aspects of caring for and enjoying your dog...articles range from health care and training to kennel boarding and travel...Here's an excerpt from a post on going places..."6 dog tips for a safe day outing can change a boring day to a fun-filled day … but in a safe manner.

If you are a new dog owner, or an experienced dog owner, you many not know what you will need to enjoy a day out with your dog. Safety may not be , or what will keep them safe; this article on dog tips will give you all the information you need.

As a responsible dog owner, it is important to ensure that you and your pooch will both have a successful fun day outing. Keeping a checklist will help you remember everything you need when you spend the day having a fun day outing..."

Click here to check out their six dog tips. 

The handsome dog in the photo is Nemo...

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Amazon still featuring porn as 'teen books for girls'  bookmarked says Today Tech NBC Chicago

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“You'll get mixed up, of course, as you already know. You'll get mixed up with
many strange birds as you go. So be sure when you step. Step with care and great tact and remember that Life's a Great Balancing Act. Just never forget to be dexterous and deft. And never mix up your right foot with your left....

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go.”       Dr.Seuss

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 Carol's Corner...A teachers blog...

“Reading should not be presented to children as a chore or a duty. It should be offered to them as a precious gift." Kate DiCamillo

 

If you are interested in teaching kids to write, puppies, or the heartfelt journey of a single mom, visit Carol Wilcox in Denver...here's an excerpt from a recent post, in the form of a teaching letter/guide and tribute to her former mentor, college professor, Don Graves..."

Dear Don,
February and March are for me, the cruelest months. Testing season.  They bring out the worst in me. That ugly, snarling, red-pen wielding teacher that I never want to be. And then I have to breathe. And breathe again. And again.  And remember all that you taught me about the teaching of writing.
1) Care.
You can't teach people to write unless they know that you care. How's your new puppy? How was your game last weekend? We missed you yesterday. Are you feeling better? You can't teach anyone anything until you show them that you care. 
2) Model, model, model, model, model 
You always said, Don, that the most important thing a teacher could do was to write with her kids. Not just talk about techniques, but actually show them what it looked like when you applied those techniques to your writing. You ...

To read it all and much more, visit: Carol Wilcox

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The NYT published several articles simultaneously on the topic of violence in media and games under the title Big Bang Theories: Violence On Screen...here is an excerpt from Allesandra Stanley's article:

Creating Immunity to All That Horror

"...Broadcasters pride themselves on keeping good and evil straight: The good guys are violent in the pursuit of justice, and it’s the villains who maim and torture for fun or profit. But heroes seem to inflict pain and recover from it with the cartoonish speed of Wile E. Coyote. If humor and distancing deflect the true horror of violence and numb audiences to it, then network television shows may be worse for audiences than even the most gruesome scenes on Showtime’s “Dexter.” Murder, rape and torture are depicted more graphically and artfully on cable shows like “Breaking Bad” or “Game of Thrones,” yet those kinds of series could be less offensive than tamer ones on network television. On cable, horror isn’t shaken off with a quip and commercial break, it lingers like cigarette smoke, infecting all the characters with secondhand depravitity."...Photo courtesy of NCIS

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We first learned of the wonderful work being done by People Animals Love (PAL),

 the Washington, DC, therapy dog organization, through their therapy reading dog program at the Arlington, VA, library. However, this proved to be only the tip of the iceberg as this quote from their website demonstrates.

"While PAL teams visit many types of sites, 85% of our visits are with the elderly. Many of these seniors have Alzheimer’s or dementia, and our volunteers visit month after month, year after year. Most of the people we visit can't own a pet, which is a real loss to those who were devoted pet owners throughout their earlier lives.

In 2011, 280 PAL certified volunteer teams have brought comfort to people at 36 sites − nursing homes, mental health facilities, hospitals, libraries and Stanton Elementary − and over 8,000 people got a wagging tail or delighted gaze through more than 600 hours of volunteered time.

We currently have 320 volunteers and their dogs going out into the community and visiting at 39 public sites."

 Visit their site: PAL

 

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Celebrate World Read Aloud Day with this video of kids around the world.

Why read aloud? What's the special value? What about reading silently?...for answers to these questions and more watch this interview with Lit World founder, Pam Allyn, on Huff Post Live. There are 775 million people in the world who can not read. 20% of HS grads in the USA are functionally illiterate according to Huff Post.

 The photo is of Pam Allyn with a LitWorld reader...

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 New York Public Library Children's Literary Salon

Here is the latest news from NYPL Children's Librarian, Elizabeth Bird regarding two events scheduled for MAY...if you are in the New York area, these are exceptional presentations and there is no charge...

 Wednesday, May 1st at 6:00 p.m. - Berger Forum

Talks on Contemporary Children's Literature

Olivier Tallec and Oliver Jeffers are both avid world travelers and illustrators whose bold and colorful children’s books are bestsellers in the US. Join them for an animated conversation moderated by Pamela Paul, Children's Book Editor of the New York Times Book Review. This event presented in conjunction with the Cultural Services of the French Embassy series: Picture This! Conversations with illustrators from Paris and NY.

Saturday, May 4th at 1:00 p.m. - Children's Center at 42nd Street (Room 84)

Reaching the Reluctant Reader - 21st Century Techniques

Join author Sue Stauffacher (Donuthead, Bessie Smith and the Night Riders, Tillie the Terrible Swede, etc.) and 7th Grade English teacher Andrew Hendricks (Mott Hall III) as they discuss  Wireman, a comic and literacy tool designed specifically to engage older readers. 

As ever these events will be held in the main branch of NYPL at 42nd Street and 5th Avenue.

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 The Wizard of OZ...click here -- OZ-- to visit the Back Street Book Club on NPR and here a brodcast that

Follows The Yellow Brick Road Back To The Origins Of 'Oz'...

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 A HEADS UP --  courtesy of CA Wulff ( from her Examiner Review)

 Flawed Dogs is advertised as a children’s book (ages 8 and up). However, this excerpt from CA Wulff's review suggests otherwise...

"‘Flawed Dogs’ is probably not any more horrifying than many of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, which children throughout the ages have seemed to navigate without developing any long-term neurosis...but…, the story is just horrible. "  Link: FlawedDogs

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SunBear Squad Saves Lives...

What should you do,  what can you do, if you see a dog in distress?

For answers, examples, true stories and more, visit Sunbear Squad...Let the experience of compassionate dog lovers guide you...Be guided by free Wallet Cards & Pocket Posters... Informative and practical...Visit SunBear Squad

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"To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in   Eden where doing nothing was not boring -- it was peace."                   Milan Kundera

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