I am a huge fan of Kate DiCamillo. So much so, in fact, that my 6th grade class novel shelf includes class sets of all of her books. Despereaux is one of my favorite novels of all time, no matter which side of the book store it is sold on. (Note: Despereaux the movie, don't bother. My 6th graders were so mad at the movie after reading, and intensely loving, the book. We barely contained them from rioting and looting the theater as we left.) The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane should be read aloud, at ALL costs, to your child. A better bedtime chapter book, you will not find anywhere on Planet Earth. Her latest novel, The Magician's Elephant, is a little harder to latch onto than some of her previous stories, but I love it no less. It's a story...like all of her books. Plain and simple stories as if told at fireside by a gypsy old woman. Not that I've ever been told a story at fireside by an old gypsy, mind you.
All of this is to say that my children recently watched the movie version of Because of Winn Dixie, her first novel if I'm not mistaken. Now, I'm no dog person. I'm also no cat person. I do; however, love me a good animal. And the dog who plays Winn Dixie in the movie is a GOOD ANIMAL. Oh, he's like a giant hairball human. I wanted to crawl into the television and bury my face in his fur and give him a hug. It's because of Winn Dixie, that I want a large, hairy mutt dog. Seriously, my next animal will be of indeterminate breed and will be covered in scraggily fur. Yes, so it is written, so shall it be done.
I've tried to convince DaddyP that we need a pup for our backyard. We have a very large, fenced backyard. What would be better than a doggie to live there? DaddyP isn't buying it...at ALL. He thinks we have a sufficient amount of dog at our house already. Currently, our family is blessed by two ridiculously, mentally deficient half Yorkie beasts. I never thought I'd be the owner of 2 small dogs. Small dogs are only special to their owners. If you own small dogs, you probably already know this. If you don't know this, let me tell you. Most folks that know you and your doggie probably hate Fido's guts. We recognized this early on when friends and family members who had dogs seemed to glow from the inside out when speaking of other dogs, but the same folks will smile at your teensy hairball with a pained grin and say, "oh...how....cute" as your little nipper bites and runs around them in circles. Mind you, their large hounds are no more loveable--and probably a whole lot smellier, they just don't seem to draw the ire that a little dog does. It's a fact of little dog life. Sad, but true. We love our little kibbles, no matter what our houseguests think of them. Growing up, my family always had big, outside dogs. 2 in particular that lived long, happy lives and were as good as any pet you could ever imagine. I tend to lean towards loving me a big dog. (As I type, hairy dog #1 is biting her squeaky Christmas elf and trying to entice DaddyP to play with her by throwing it in his lap repeatedly.) The kids, in particular, are totally attached. Jack and Pongo especially. Jack, being a couch potato, has a constant lap companion in Pongo. Honey thinks that she is everyone's mother/boss in the household, so we all have some sort of bond with her by default. She has, at this very moment, given up throwing her toy at DaddyP and is now laying with her head on DaddyP's lap and is staring at him with her brown eyes, and Pongo is curled up at my side...my little bun warmer. Who needs a heating pad when you have a dog?
Even though PDaddy won't cave on the third dog issue, we do agree that if/when we do get a large dog (maybe years and years down the road,) that it's very important that a large dog behave and have good manners. Because of this, we'll probably not make such a commitment until we can manage attending Obedience school with said large doggie. Very important. It's one thing to have hard-headed rodent sized dogs. It's another thing, as we learned personally years ago, to have a very large dog with the manners of a rabid rhinoceros. So, my point, I think, is that you need to read some of Kate DiCamillo's work. You heard me. Then, you need to go out into the world and find the pet that makes you smile. Next time, I'll tell you about my current bid with DaddyP to get a bunny to train to use the litter box. (Note: A college friend had a housebroken rabbit that weighed 24 pounds. How fun would that be?!!!)
No comments:
Post a Comment