Category Archives: Book

I love to read.

Book, Read To Me Dad, Review

Book Review: Shelby

I picked this book up at the Tulsa Zoo in 2006. I knew that we should have a book with the same name as my baby sister. And since Shelby is Eva’s godmother I figured this would be a good book for her to read to Eva when she comes and visits. However, I spend a lot of time reading this to Eva.

Author and Illustrator
The story was written by Stacy A. Nyikos and she lives in Tulsa, OK. If I had planned ahead for my next trip I would have tried to get an audience with her to interview her for this blog. She has two other books, Squirt and Dizzy. The illustrations were done by Shawn N. Sisneros who also worked with Stacy on Squirt.

The Story-
The story is of Shelby, a Lemon Shark that lives in the roots of a knotty old tree. Shelby is afraid, she is afraid of the other fish. She is afraid that she cannot make friends because she will scare all of the other fish with her large teeth. And Shelby is lonely.

One day a large beast comes to her home and threatens the lives of the other fish. A call for help is raised and Shelby must summon more courage than she has ever had to reveal herself an help those fish she desperately wants to befriend.

This is a great story of using our talents and accepting ourselves. It is also about fear and how it prevents us from living our lives to their fullest. But overall it is a story of accepting one’s own self and having courage. Some excellent messages for children and adults alike.

In the back of the book are many facts about the lemon shark. And at stonehorsepublishing.com there are supplemental materials for the Shelby book including a quiz and questions to talk about with your child. Might be nice for homeschoolers. The materials are a free .pdf download.

Read to Me Dad Ratings

  • Story – Excellent and it rhymes well.
  • Re-Read-Play-ability – Excellent, I read it often
  • Illustrations – Excellent – The fish are so colorful.
  • Message – Excellent – Using your talents selflessly for the enjoyment of others.
  • Plot – Good – A nice little story that introduces characters and events that occur in an easy to follow manner.
  • Characters – Shelby is a wonderful character that illustrates how you must be brave to overcome fear and doubt.
  • Does Eva Like It – She enjoys the bright colors and I like to sing the book to her as well as change voices.
  • Recommended Ages3 to 8
Book

Baghdad Pups…

I read some interesting articles in USA Today, today. There was one about Baghdad Pups, a program sponsored through www.ilovedogs.com the program helps soldiers who have ‘adopted’ strays from Baghdad get those dogs back to the sates with them. Now, it is against the rules to ‘adopt’ these dogs but you know what, sometimes an animal companion is just what someone needs to keep it together. And sometimes a bond just happens and you need to follow your heart. Baghdad Pups is a program that reunites soldiers with the strays that they ‘adopted’ in combat. This program is something that you can donate to if you would like to help a soldier make sure that no Buddy is left behind.

From the website:

Donations received for this program will be used in three ways:

1. To cover the costs associated with bringing companion animals, befriended by United States military while serving in the Middle East, to their new homes in the United States.

2. To cover transportation costs for companion animals belonging to active military personnel who need financial assistance for this purpose when they are transferred to another military base.

3. To further the mission of SPCA International to stop euthanizing adoptable and healthy animals. The outcomes of this program will be maintaining the human/animal bond and a reduction in surrendered animals.

Operation Baghdad Pups relies on generous donors like you. Thank you for your support of our troops by helping to bring their companion animals home to the United States. Your contribution makes SPCA International’s exhaustive efforts in this life-saving mission possible.

You can also purchase the book “44 Days Out of Kandahar” The story about Cinnamon, one of the first Baghdad pups.

This is much better news than what we had seen recently about soldiers and dogs in IRAQ. I bought a copy of the book to read to Eva someday.