Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: Children’s Dog Book

  • HOW DACHSHUNDS CAME to BE: A Tall Tale About a Short Long Dog by Kizzie Jones – Children’s Books, Mythology & Folk Tale, Children’s Dog Books

    HOW DACHSHUNDS CAME to BE: A Tall Tale About a Short Long Dog by Kizzie Jones – Children’s Books, Mythology & Folk Tale, Children’s Dog Books

    Author Kizzie Jones creates a beautiful origin story about how the lovable dog species – the Dachshund – came to be with the help of illustrator Scott Ward.

    In an enchanted time and place, a little girl walks every day along a beautiful beach, delighting in the sea stars, anemones, mussels, and barnacles that are revealed when the tides sweep out. She combs the beach for treasured “friends” of shells and sand dollars. A pod of humpback whales visits the beach twice yearly, and the little girl thrills to see the whales and their newborn calves. But the little girl is lonely and more than anything, wishes for an animal friend to take home with her.

    Kizzie Jones loves dachshunds (she has three) and lives near the Salish Sea, where Orcas and Humpback whales and other sea life frolic and play. This familiar setting provides a rich environment for her charming stories to take root. How Dachshunds Came to Be: A Tall Tale About a Short Long Dog, is Kizzie Jones’ first book, and like the other books in her series, A Tall Tale About a Dachshund and a Pelican: How a Friendship Came to Be, and her very latest book in the series,  A Tall Tale  About Dachshunds in Costumes: How MORE Dogs Came to Be, artist Scott Ward’s illustrations perfectly match the mood of Jones’ narrative – bright, fresh, almost etheric colors of sea, sand, and the whimsical renderings of the little girl and those who love and surround her. Each page number is highlighted on the back of a dachshund, and the three dogs that rush to befriend the little girl are simply adorable. This sweet collaboration makes a perfect “read-to” for parents and grandparents of toddlers and an engagingly accessible tale for older children to delve into on their own.

    Shortly after the little girl leaves the beach for home, the whales decide to find a companion for her. This friend would need to be a warm-blooded mammal – able to breathe fresh air. Each creature has ideas about the ideal companion. A barnacle suggests giving it a long nose; seals advise a “long sleek body” just right for cuddling; anemones think it needs soft wavy whiskers and eyebrows. The octopus naturally suggests 8 limbs. Still, the group settles on four, with padding on the ends of their legs – suitable for walking on land.

    By the time the little girl awakens and returns to the beach, she finds not one but three new friends – black, brown-red, and golden dachshunds. They run to her, ready for cuddles and loves.

     

  • A TALL TALE ABOUT DACHSHUNDS in COSTUMES: How MORE Dogs Came to Be by Kizzie Jones – Children’s Books, Children’s Dog Books, Children’s Fantasy & Magic Books

    A TALL TALE ABOUT DACHSHUNDS in COSTUMES: How MORE Dogs Came to Be by Kizzie Jones – Children’s Books, Children’s Dog Books, Children’s Fantasy & Magic Books

    A unique fairytale by author Kizzie Jones, A Tall Tale About Dachshunds in Costumes: How MORE Dogs Came to Be adds the third book her series that began with How Dachshunds Came to Be: A Tall Tale about a Short Long Dog, followed by the award-winning title, A Tall Tale about a Dachshund and a Pelican: How a Friendship Came to Be.

    This tall tale begins on the beach one autumn day where a big storm is fast approaching a girl and her dogs, stopping their play and forcing them to retreat indoors. The next day the girl and the dogs decide to go clean up the debris left by the storm, and it is not long before they see what sort of costumes they can create with the various kinds of debris scattered along the beach.

    The dressed-up dogs ask the girl if she would be upset if they stayed dressed up.  The girl wonders if the dogs would change on the inside as well. they reply,

     “We’d be changed and transformed—we’d be diff’rent outside. Yet, inside, our hearts are still caring and kind.”

    That night the girl sends her wish to the ocean for the dogs to become the dogs they costumed themselves to be and goes to sleep hoping her wish will be granted.

    It is easy to see that author Kizzie Jones has a deep love for her dachshunds and nature, but it is also clear that she loves to teach through her books. With assistance from USDA Forest Service, Jones fills her story with accurate plant life as well as lots of terms for different dog colorings and patterns, all of which she includes in a glossary at the end of the book.

    Dachshunds in Costumes is a creative story that gives a lighthearted explanation for how the different breeds of dogs came to be, and as Jones’s previous books, we see the gift of self-acceptance. Also present is a meter that has a lilting and soothing quality. The meter pairs well with the wonderful illustration work from Scott Ward that has a unique and uniform shading style that readers of all ages will admire.

    Kizzie Jones’ newest addition is perfect for the curious and inquisitive child who will surely spend hours curled up studying all that A Tall Tale About Dachshunds in Costumes: How MORE Dogs Came to Be has to offer.

    This title will be released on November 3, 2019, in English and in Spanish! If you would like more information, please sign up on Kizzie’s blog here.