Planet of the Dogs

After I posted my Children's Lit post, I got a comment from Robert McCarty, who wrote Planet of the Dogs and Castle in the Mist. They are two in a series of three, the third of which comes out this October.

He offered to send me copies of the first two books with the understanding that I would review them here on my blog and post comments to his website as well.

I received them in the middle of a crazy week which included my brother's wedding, so it took me longer than usual to read them both. Yesterday, I finished Castle in the Mist and thus, below is my review.

These are soft-cover chapter books meant for kids aged 8 and up. They are set in "olden times" of an undefined year. Folks ride horses, and they live in villages and there aren't roads, but paths. There are castles and warriors and no guns. There are peaceful, farmer villagers and "city" dwelling meaner people as well. In the first book, there's an impending war brewing.

The dogs on the Planet of the Dogs are aware of the no-good happenings on Earth and bring Daisy and Bean, siblings, through their dreams to their planet to introduce the children to dogs, of which they know nothing. They bring dogs back with them to help bring love, understanding, and peace to Earth.

The fantasy involved in the books is appealing. It involves dream sequences, travel through space and time between planets, dogs who can talk to children and healer-women through thoughts and barking, and seeing information through dreams. The reality involved is also appealing. It involves the universal love of dogs by humans and vice versa, human condition of fighting and war and capacity for love and peace.

The second book, Castle in the Mist, picks up where the second left off in regards to character development and introduces a whole new land and cast of characters (a la Harry Potter). In this one, the past-violent-cum-peaceful Bik of Stone City has his two young children kidnapped by a Prince who doesn't understand peace or dogs or anything really and the dogs, along with the humans, work out a plan to save the children.

While reading these, I kept wishing I was reading them out loud to a couple of kids instead. I could imagine each night reading another chapter and the kids waiting with bated breath for what would happen next. I could imagine the kids greeting their own dogs in the kitchen without talking, just squinting up their eyes real tight and sending "thought messages" to the dog much to the wonder of their parents.

The illustrations are lovely as well, done by Stella McCarty, Robert's wife. They are black and white and are done in pencil (I think) so they aren't super eye-catching the way we seem to think everything has to be these days for kids. But I think the softness and care in them will appeal to even the youngest children.

All in all, I would recommend these books, which are available on Amazon, B & N and at Barking Planet to any kid who loves to read and to any parent looking for a good book to read to younger kids.

Much thanks to Robert and Stella for sharing the books with me!