Pets | VIVIAN KIRKFIELD – Writer for Children

Usually I review picture books on Wednesdays…but today is very special because I am hosting my first ever book tour for an amazing author duo…MAX THE DOG AND HIS PARTNER, ANTHONY MAJEWSKI.

Maximus, a.k.a. “Max” is an English Labrador who shares stories about his real life experiences.

“Dogs Work Too! From Max’s Point of View” is about the day that Max visits Leader Dogs For The Blind. The adventure first outlines how Leader Dogs for the Blind was founded in 1939 and has placed over 14,000 dogs in 39 countries. Amazing! These wonderful dogs help people who are visually impaired or blind.

This is an organization that is privately funded (by donations from people like you and me) and it is near and dear to my heart. Many members of my own family (myself included) have serious eye conditions like glaucoma and macular degeneration and several have become blind because of those diseases. I truly understand the difficulties a blind person encounters in their day-to-day life…and how important a helper like a Leader Dog can be.

There is also a great giveaway that you will want to hear about, so make sure to read to the end. Also check out the Reading With Max blog as they have a whole tour schedule for each day.

With his buddy Co-Co by his side, the two explore the importance of training leader dogs and how the dedicated volunteers work so hard to provide well-trained leader dogs to people in need.

“Dogs Work Too! From Max’s Point of View” is a great book to read with your children and includes pictures on every page. It’s a great learning tool that will help young children understand how and why dogs work to help people…they can be more than just loving pets.

Reading picture books with young children engages them in the world between the pages, encourages them to observe what is happening to the characters in the story and allows them to relate those events to their own experiences. It is really important for us to teach our children to reach out to help others…and the books in this series are PERFECT for doing that! This book helps young children learn about people who are blind and the Leader Dogs who assist them. The book also gives encouragement to young children who are blind themselves.

Most children love dogs and this is a wonderful way to get them interested in guide dogs. It is an amazing sight to see a Leader Dog guiding his master (or mistress) down the street…equally amazing are the people who train Leader Dogs…they must be gentle, yet firm…sounds like good parenting advice, don’t you think? 🙂 You just might need to get your children this book. And, there is also a coloring book as well! You can purchase Max’s newest books, ask him questions, enter his contests, ask him for his paw-o-graph or tell him about your own adventures on his website.

And guess what? A portion of the proceeds from books sales will go to Leader Dogs for the Blind which is the non-profit organization that provides these well-trained dogs to blind or visually impaired people…FOR FREE! A wonderful cause and book to teach us the importance of dogs that work too!

“Dogs Work Too! From Max’s Point of View” CLICK HERE TO BUY

Visit READ WITH MAX to learn more! You’ll find books, coloring books and fun tattoos by Max.

Now, Max needs your help with something. He needs your vote!

Max’s video titled “Read With Max! Childrens Book “Dogs Work Too!” A Story About Leader Dogs for the Blind” has been selected to compete in the 2011 Peoples Telly Award. This competition is conducted online at the Official Telly Awards YouTube website. Voting started Monday, March 28th and continues for 4 weeks, so you still have lots of chances to vote for Max! Click On The Telly Awards Image To Give Us A “Thumbs Up” And Cast Your Vote!
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOUT LEADER DOGS FOR THE BLIND!

And here’s some great news! There is a contest for 2 $50 Visa gift cards!! One of you could be the winner! All you have to do is follow the blog tour…each day’s post has a word at the end. If you put all of the words together, it will make a sentence and the first one to post on Max’s blog with the whole sentence is the winner! So get busy and check out every blog stop (even the ones you might have missed) and get the word for the day. You can get the whole schedule list here.

THAT’S RIGHT…ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS FOLLOW THE BLOG TOUR AND YOU COULD WIN $50! So here are the instructions again:

Follow the tour and win a $50.00 Cash Gift Card Prize!

The tour will stop at a new site each day. Each site will display a “MAX” WORD OF THE DAY. Collect “Max’s Word” each day and complete the long sentence from Max by the end of the tour! My blog is the 14th stop on the tour, so word number 14 in the long sentence is: THEIR.

At the end of the tour on May 4th, be one of the first two people to post the sentence on:

Read With Max Blog Site

Winners will have to correctly write the entire sentence to qualify. So the word from today is: THEIR

For the full tour list, please go to Blog Book Tour.

Thank you so much for visiting today…I know Max and his partner, Anthony Majewski appreciate your interest and support. Don’t forget to view the YouTube video and give a thumbs up for Max!

If you have the time, please stop by my website: www.positiveparentalparticipation.com where there is a new special going on in honor of the 40th anniversary of the NAEYC’s The Week of the Young Child…April 10th through April 16 which focuses public attention on the needs of young children and their families.

Image via Wikipedia

Do you remember your first pet?

My memories of the velvet black cat that followed me home are bittersweet…tangled with my annual summer idyll at my grandmother’s house in Brooklyn and the events that took place after I left.

Brooklyn, New York may not seem like a country retreat to you…but it was for a little girl from the heart of Manhattan. My grandmother’s house was on a tree-lined street…her backyard blooming with flowers and fruit trees was a paradise…a true Garden of Eden.

My grandmother had thirteen grandchildren…and as soon as each was old enough to sleep away from home, they were invited to spend two weeks during the summer with this very special lady.

The Summer of the Black Cat took place when I was about eight years old. It was the first morning of my two-week stay and my grandmother had sent me to the grocery store around the corner to pick up some milk and bread. I felt very proud and grown-up as I selected the items and paid for them. Leaving the store, I noticed a beautiful black cat sitting on the curb. Walking over to her, I patted her sleek fur and then turned and started back to my grandmother’s house. Crossing the street, I turned and noticed I had a little shadow following me…the black cat.

Perhaps she smelled the milk in the grocery bag or perhaps she was just lonely and had enjoyed the attention I had given her. But she followed me all the way back to my grandmother’s house! I went inside and gave my grandmother the milk and bread. “Grandma, grandma” I exclaimed. “A beautiful black cat followed me home…can I keep her?”

My grandmother was quite hesitant, but I should explain that she had many beautiful singing canaries. “Vivian” she said. “You know that birds and cats don’t belong in the same house.”

The tears that were starting to trickle down my cheeks must have touched her heart. “You can give her a bowl of milk, but under no circumstances can she come in the house.”

I was THRILLED! I quickly ran to the kitchen and poured some milk in a small bowl and hurried out to the cat. I set the bowl down next to her and sat there, watching Blackie (for so I had named her) lap it up. As soon as she finished she climbed up on my lap, curled herself around and settled herself contently. And I was content as well.

For the next two weeks, I had a constant companion on my walks around the neighborhood and while I sat reading in the backyard. I was always very careful to close the screen door carefully so that Blackie would not come into the house.

But all too soon the two weeks were over and it was time for me to return to my own home. I was sad to leave Blackie, but there was no way I could take her back to our apartment in the city.

Unfortunately, this is not the end of the story. A few days after I had returned home, someone left the screen door open and Blackie got into the house. Before anyone realized it, she had jumped onto a table and reached one of the cages…and there was one less voice in the canary chorus at my grandmother’s house. When my grandmother discovered the dead bird, she was extremely upset and angry. Searching for the cat, she found it hiding under the sofa. She realized that just putting it out of the house was not enough because the cat would try to get in at the first opportunity and someone might forget to close the door again. So she put the cat in a shopping bag (this was many years ago before high tech pet carriers) and took a trolley to Coney Island and deposited the cat there…hopefully the next person who gave the cat a bowl of milk didn’t have any pet birds.

What would you have done in my grandmother’s situation?

Here are some options available if you find yourself with an unwanted pet:

Contact a friend or relative who might want a pet.
Call your local ASPCA or other animal rescue shelter.

If any of you have other suggestions, please leave a comment and share them!

My grandmother reacted in the heat of the moment, as many of us do sometimes. But her main concerns were always for people and I have to be grateful for her willingness to allow a little girl to have her first pet.

I keep thinking that each Grandma Chronicle is going to be the last one…and I really thought this one would be. However, there is one more story that I think relates to many young children who have separation anxiety, as I did. Stop by tomorrow for The Grandma Chronicles: The Aborted Sleepover.