What a truly wonderful and unique Christmas story for the whole family. Snow Valley Heroes 
by Robert J. McCarty and illustrated by Stella Mustanoja McCarty is the third offering in series; Planet Of The Dogs
. What an imagination this team has! There is a planet, inhabited by dogs and from time to time, they intervene in our planet's affairs. When we are in trouble, when we need love, understanding, loyalty and so many of the other attributes that dogs possess -- and that we more or less lack-- they come to our rescue. As the reader will see, dogs have much to teach us about life, love and loyalty!In this latest offering, it seems the wicked King of the North, who has been banished to The Ice Castle, wants revenge and figures the best way to do this is ruin Christmas for everyone. He plots and comes up with the idea of stealing two of Santa Clauses' Reindeer, thereby putting and end to Christmas for good. The dogs of Dog Planet get word of this, and of course, take action! That, very briefly is the plot.
This Christmas story is quite well written. The paragraphs are nice, short and very crisp. Chapters follow a logical order, and are quite easy to follow, which makes this a very good book to read with your child. The author's imagination is quite broad, but he never descends into the realm of being silly -- a flaw so many works in this genre have. While I grant you that this story is pure fantasy, it is logical fantasy and uses the story of Santa, his elves, real people, and of course the dogs of Planet of the Dogs quite effectively. The portrayal of the personalities of the various animals is spot on; with personalities that will be quite familiar to anyone who has ever shared their life with a dog.
Dog lovers will appreciate every word of this little book. In addition to being an obvious natural story teller with the ability to write well, the author also, beyond a doubt, knows dogs! I have been lucky enough to have had companion animals (dogs) since I was born, have raised dogs, trained dogs, hunted with dogs, lived with dogs, worked with dogs, loved dogs and shared my life with dogs for well over sixty years now. Actually, truth be told, I like dogs more than I like most people! Trust me...this author knows dogs!
The art work in this book, by Stella McCarty, is a marvel to the eye. Her soft black and white drawings capture the mood and essence of the story line perfectly. While being extremely detailed, they have a misty, mystical quality about them that make them a pleasure to look at. They are the type of drawing that would be wonderful to have framed an on display in your home. She is a very skilled artist indeed!
Now this is the third book in a series, but fear not! This book can be read and a stand alone. The author has been kind enough to add short summations of the first two books to the back of this one and the reader can be brought up to snuff quite quickly by giving these brief overviews a quick read.
Overall, this is a very good Christmas read; actually a read for anytime and it is an ideal book to snuggle up with the little ones on a cold winter night and simply enjoy. Recommend this one quite highly!
Planet Of The Dogs
Castle in the Mist
Talking Points:::
There is no Accelerated Reading number available yet for this book. So to be on the safe side consider this book as one to be read to younger children. Not a practice reader.
Don Blankenship
The Ozarks
- Accelerated Reading level : unknown
- Hardcover: 40 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins (January 8, 2008)
- ISBN-10: 0060743581
related posts:
6 comments :
Thanks so much for your wonderful review...and it adds meaning to us that you have known dogs all your life.
Happy Holidays,
Stella and Robert
The Planet of the Dogs series is such an excellent series for children. You can read each one alone and still be caught up in the story of how the dogs help us in so many ways. Snow Valley Heroes is my favorite. I gave it to a 10 year old for Christmas. She loved it and shared it with her friends. The illustrations by Stella McCarty are amazing and add quite a lot to the whole story. Robert McCarty's books are highly recommended for children, and even adults. I love them!
Snow Valley Heroes is a great holiday story for children of all ages. I love it that the heroes in the McCarty books are always the dogs! Stella's illustrations are beautifully haunting, and Robert is a great story teller.
The pleasure of reading this book should be shared by as many as possible. I grew up, cutting my reading teeth, so to speak, on dog stories, written and oral and have certainly been involved with them. This book was an absolute delight. hope we have many, many more in the series.
Don
Debbie; These books are indeed somewhat unique in that they can be read as a series but do not suffer one bit if read as stand-alones. Also, they are the type of book that can be read by both young and old or together and bring a lot of reading joy to both groups. I agree with you as to Stella’s art work, and you will note that I refer to it as “art” rather than illustrations. As I examined each picture, I felt she certainly caught the essence of the story. Would not a set of the originals of some of these, nicely framed, make a great set on the wall? Anyway, thanks for dropping by. Do it often and spread the word about our site.
Ariel: Thank you for visiting our site, but more importantly, thank you for saying such nice thing about this book. McCarty is indeed a top story teller; what an imagination, articulate and readable. I cannot say enough good things about the art work in this book. Do drop by often and pass the word.
Don
Post a Comment