Over the Counter #329

What book caught my eye this week as it passed over the library counter and under my scanner? Going to the dogs this week.......

First up is Tails From the Booth by Lynn Terry.

From the publisher, Gallery Books:

"Furry friends meet photo booths in this quirky photography book that captures all the cute canine action when the leashes come off and the dogs are the star of the show.

If dogs could take selfies, it might look something like Tails from the Booth. For this adorable collection of photographs, Lynn Terry draws on more than twenty years of professional photography experience to capture the most endearing moments between canine companions: A couple of pitbulls grinning widely at the camera. Two saggy-faced bulldogs bumping jowls. A Pomeranian, an English bulldog, and a Boston terrier dog-piling (of course) on top of each other. These pictures show the countless ways dogs will ham it up in front of a camera, and that more dogs in a photo booth = even more fun!

With all the charm of Underwater Dogs and Shake, Tails from the Booth will make you laugh out loud at all the awkward and endearing ways dogs make friends with each other."

Next up is The Underdogs by Melissa Fay Greene.

From the publisher, Ecco Books:

"From two-time National Book Award nominee Melissa Fay Greene comes a profound and surprising account of dogs on the front lines of rescuing both children and adults from the trenches of grief, emotional, physical, and cognitive disability, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The Underdogs tells the story of Karen Shirk, felled at age twenty-four by a neuromuscular disease and facing life as a ventilator-dependent, immobile patient, who was turned down by every service dog agency in the country because she was “too disabled.” Her nurse encouraged her to tone down the suicidal thoughts, find a puppy, and raise her own service dog. Karen did this, and Ben, a German shepherd, dragged her back into life. “How many people are stranded like I was,” she wondered, “who would lead productive lives if only they had a dog?”

A thousand state-of-the-art dogs later, Karen Shirk’s service dog academy, 4 Paws for Ability, is restoring broken children and their families to life. Long shunned by scientists as a man made, synthetic species, and oft- referred to as “Man’s Best Friend” almost patronizingly, dogs are finally paid respectful attention by a new generation of neuroscientists and animal behaviorists. Melissa Fay Greene weaves the latest scientific discoveries about our co-evolution with dogs with Karen’s story and a few exquisitely rendered stories of suffering children and their heartbroken families.

Written with characteristic insight, humanity, humor, and irrepressible joy, what could have been merely touching is a penetrating, compassionate exploration of larger questions: about our attachment to dogs, what constitutes a productive life, and what can be accomplished with unconditional love."

(Over the Counter is a regular feature at A Bookworm's World. I've sadly come the realization that I cannot physically read every book that catches my interest as it crosses over my counter at the library. But... I can mention them and maybe one of them will catch your eye as well. See if your local library has them on their shelves!)