Saturday, June 4, 2011

Vintage Dog Books - or how I picked our new pup.

After we got our new puppy a few days ago, I started wracking my brain about who she looked like. Some character in a book I read - but what book?



I mean, besides letting us cart home armloads of books from the library, my mother read us lots and lots of books, over and over, while I was growing up. And I'm living proof that it's the way to make a reader. (Thank you, Mom.)




But there were So Many Books, and I kept thinking of a dog I'd seen, like our new pup - Penny. I mean, there must have been some subliminal reason why I brought home such a muttly little black dog. She reminded me of a dog I'd read about.




Was it this one? No . . .






This one? No, I think the dog wore a hat, but . . .




it wasn't this one. In frustration, I called Mom, who still has cartons of well-used and dog-eared (haha - get it?) books that we pawed through as kids.




"Mom," I said. "It was something to do with a fire house."




She dug through the boxes, and found this one -




But no, it wasn't exactly right. It was a Black Dog. And because I couldn't quit thinking of this One. Certain. Book. - I googled, and eventually found the right one.




It's about a black dog, a very famous dog that actually lived and performed heroic duties working at a fire house - and it's called:






Notice the resemblance? All she needs is a fireman's hat and she could be -


Penny, the Fire-Engine Dog.





What vintage dog books do you remember?


4 comments:

Dreaming said...

I remember trading a toy for a book when I was 7. The book was called "Three Little Horses". I loved the book and since I only had a handful of books, they all stick in my mind. When my boys were little I found my favorite book in a collection at a yard sale. I bought the collection. Sadly, my boys just couldn't get into a story about horses who dress in costumes to go visit a town!

Linda Benson said...

Dreaming, I must have missed Three Little Horses! It's a horse book I haven't read - I'll have to look for it. Yard sales are one of my favorite places to find books, and I love it when you find an old, cherished one that brings back memories.

Anonymous said...

I loved my mom dearly, but sadly, she was not a reader. I don't remember her ever reading a single story to me. My father was a voracious reader, but never read to us kids. Nevertheless, books were the treasure of my childhood. Though it wasn't a traditional picture book, one of my favorite books as a kid was the AKC book put out by Purina Dog Chow. I read that thing until it completely fell apart.

Linda Benson said...

Anonymous - I remember those pamphlets. I had one on horses that I read until it was practically memorized, and I kept it forever. All kinds of information in those things, like breeds and feeding and everything. We learn to read by reading about things that interest us, don't we?