If ever there was a case for the insitution of professional librarians, as opposed to outsourced hires working for minimum wage, it's Awful Library Books. The blog, started by Michigan librarians Holly Hibner and Mary Kelly, features outdated and ridiculous titles that have been mercifully culled from the stacks. Go there now if you need a good laugh. Seriously, it's one of the funniest blogs on the Web.
Thank you, Madame Librarians, for your good taste and sense of humor. Just brilliant!
Enjoy heartwarming illustrations from The Puppies of Pillow Land. This bed time story, which is due to be released next Christmas, invites the hearts and minds of both children and adults to consider our companions as spiritual creatures.
The Puppies of Pillow Land gently guides your child through the lands of fable and lore to produce a comforting story which is accompanied by its own snugly breed-related pillow. The author and illustrator, Vanda Lavar, weaves a tale of wonder, love, and unfailing nighttime protection as The Puppies of Pillow Land guard the night for sleeping children.
The pillows are available now for $15, with the book soon to follow, along with other specialty gifts based on these lovable characters. To order the pillows visit PillowLandPuppies.com.
There will be new breeds available as images are added weekly. Additionally, each pillow has a slot located in the back panel in which to store “jammies.”
You may remember Vanda’s fabulous illustrations from Tucker’s Tale
, a book which recently made Laura Bush’s reading list. Tucker’s Tale
Ms. Lavar’s works are recognized throughout the world. Recently her works were featured on puzzles found in Target Stores across the United States. Last year, Ms. Lavar was an invited artist to the 133rd Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show held at Madison Square Gardens. Her works are available on a variety of product matter from mouse pads to garden flags. She is currently accepting commissions from both the public and corporate sector. Her personal website is DogArtist.me. Contact Vanda for more information via her email. or phone: 530-919-3964.
Artwork from Flawed Dogs: The Novel: The Shocking Raid on Westminster
by Berkeley Breathed
I am not crazy about comics, but I adore Berkeley Breathed's Flawed Dogs: The Year End Leftovers at the Piddleton. Now, inspired by one of Michael Vick's former dogs who became a lover not a fighter after being given a second chance, Breathed has turned his picture book into novel for young adults called Flawed Dogs: The Novel: The Shocking Raid on Westminster
P.S. Yes, the main character is a Dachshund with a soup ladle for a hind leg.
Order your copy here
The Yoshitomo Nara + graph A-Z Project at Baltic in the northern England town of Gateshead sounds like an intriguing experience. The renowned Japanese pop artist worked with the Osaka-based design company to create 26 houses, one for each street named for the alphabet, aiming to explore “the relationship between the individual, the space they inhabit and objects within their surroundings.”
While his iconic little girl drawings appear dominant, Pup King, his equally well-known dog, makes appearances too.
Can you find the single Pup King in this pile of plushies? Click on image for larger view.
photo by gilsteph via flickr
And, a limited edition Pup King plush toy (pictured at top) is available in the gift shop or online. Great Christmas gift for Nara-philes.
Related links:
Read more about the show here.
More Yoshitomo Nara Pup King art, t-shirts, posters and toys are here.
Order Nara’s Children’s book The Lonesome Puppy here.
Read Matthew Rose’s excellent analysis of Japanese pop art and Nara here.
Great flickr set of Nara’s work from Tigerlily here.
Admit it. You're just like me. You judge a book by its cover too. So you might also have put off reading Dogs We Love
What's wrong with its cover? The cute dog and the word "love" tell me that within the pages of this book somebody's dog dies. And, looking more closely, I see that it is a compilation of 18 writers talking about the dogs they love, so I calculate there could be as many as 18 dog deaths. No way. I am not reading this book. Just like I will probably never read Marley & Me or The Art of Racing in the Rain.
Well, I read it. And guess what? You really should not judge a book by its cover. Or, if you do, read the fine print. By doing so, you'll see that the writers are literary powerhouses, people like Jane Smiley, Edward Albee, Armistead Maupin, and Ann Beattie, among others, who do with words what the greatest artists I feature on this site do with color, line, texture and composition. They show us what it's like to wildly, passionately love a dog.
I don't want to give anything away about the pieces, but know that the work is beautiful and brilliant. As you read each one, you are reminded of the individuality of every dog you've ever known. And, you lose yourself in the magic of dog love. For me, that meant not just enjoying the funny, poignant stories of dogs and their owners, but somehow falling more deeply in love with my own dog – if that could even be possible. It was like stumbling into a secret society that revels in all things dog, not on a scientific (boring) or elegiac (maudlin) level, but in an unbridled, joyful way that hit just the right note for me.
Complied by Michael J. Rosen, whose introduction is absolutely wonderful and speaks to his own talent as a poet and writer (of over 65 books), Dogs We Love
Last but not least, the book is filled with Robin Schwartz's charming B & W photography (pictured here), as sweet and funny as the dog tales told are.
Father's Day is June 15. If your dad is a literary minded dog-lover, Dogs We Love, is the pick of the litter!
Click here
And don't forget to stop by Micheal J. Rosen's website to learn more about this fascinating writer, editor, illustrator, fidosopher, philanthropist, and cook.
P.S. If this book sounds familiar, it is a smaller version of Dog People, offered at the nicer price.
Morie Sawatishi and one of his beloved Akitas.
Dog Man: An Uncommon Life on a Faraway Mountain by Martha Sherrill is not exactly a dog art book. It sounds more like a book about the art of living your life…with dogs. It’s an account of Morie Sawatishi a mild-mannered engineer who gave up a better life to devote himself to saving the dying breed of Akitas in Japan. Cathleen MacGuigan of Newsweek writes…
"This is one of those small but rich books on a seemingly arcane subject—a passionate dog lover in the remote mountains of Japan’s snow country—that is ultimately about something much greater. The story of Morie Sawataishi and his magnificent dogs—with their superior intelligence, stamina, fearlessness and almost spiritual calm—is really about the search for enduring values and the determination to live life on one’s own terms."
I can’t wait to read it!
You can buy Dog Man here
My niece Layla has eclectic style as exhibited here by her dinosaur t-shirt that she’s paired with her ruby slippers.
I love to watch her taste develop and encourage her interest in the things I love too – namely dogs. I have given her several dog books and she has found some of her favorites on her own.
Here are Layla’s picks for the best dog books for kids this holiday season.
The Costume Party
Flawed Dogs: The Year End Leftovers at the Piddleton “Last Chance” Dog Pound
That’s Not My Puppy: Its Coat Is Too Hairy
Happy at the Bel-Air
I gave Open Me…I’m a Dog
Kassi, The Doxie With Moxie, dropped Darby a note to let him know Mary Ludington's new book The Nature of Dogs
I never thought about our closeness to dogs blinding us to their true nature, and I admire Ludington's attempts to "bypass the sentimental layer" we impose on them. But judging from her photos, I think she's set herself an impossible task. Her images are so wonderful we simply fall in love with the dogs, hence blinding us to their true nature. I guess that's the paradox of dogs and love and dog-love.
Anyway, the book looks gorgeous and right in time for Christmas. It would make a great hostess gift for a dog-lover too.
My cousin, Ellen Clair Lamb, has a unique approach towards her blog. Each year she chooses a new theme. The first year it was movie quotes, then, it was “Ask The Answer Girl.” This year she features the special books in her life that she has kept through her various moves around the country. Yesterday she posted about her copy of The German Shorthaired Pointer
Stop by her blog if you need a good book to read. She has never let me down with her superb recommendations. And if you need a researcher, editor or ghostwriter, Ellen Clair “Answer Girl” Lamb is your gal.
Shaggy Muses: The Dogs Who Inspired Virginia Woolf, Emily Dickinson, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Edith Wharton and Emily Bronte