To be a writer is to read as much as possible, especially the best books in the categories you want to write. Your favorite reads will change and change again with all the wonderful new books coming out every year. But some favorites will remain the same over time.
My “always” favorites are by writers Jim Kjelgaard and Gary Paulsen, both masters of dog books. Kjelgaard (pronounced Kel-guard) wrote some 45 books in his short career (he died at the age of 48). I’ve only recently read 1958’s “Rescue Dog of the High Pass,” a fictionalized account of the first Alpine mastiff to work at the Hospice of Saint Bernard and rescue travelers from avalanches. It’s available in a new paperback edition.
Gary Paulsen’s 2015 collection of animal stories, including border collies, poodles, and coyotes, is titled “This Side of Wild” and is an easy but compelling read, full of Paulsen’s characteristic action and heart.
Newer favorites include one non-canine book: 2016’s “Wolf Hollow, ” a Newbery Honor book by Lauren Wolk. (I read it because I thought it might be about wolves. It isn’t, but it’s amazing!)
New canine-related favorites are 2016’s “When Friendship Followed Me Home” by Paul Griffin, the story of a boy who rescues a dog while the dog rescues the boy (and so much more) set in the beach-and-boardwalk world of Coney Island, NY.
Move to the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and meet Wishbone, a stray who becomes the best friend of Charlie, a young girl who’s been sent to live with an aunt and uncle she doesn’t know. 2016’s heartwarming “Wish” by Barbara O’Conner, author of another of my all-time favorite books, “How to Steal a Dog,” unites a stray girl and a stray dog in a story that’s hard to put down.
There’s also 2014’s “Rain Reign” by Ann M. Martin, about a girl obsessed with homonyms (two words spelled differently but pronounced the same) and the dog she calls Reign/Rain. It’s both a heartbreaker and a spirit-lifter.
Then there’s 2016’s “Pax” by Sara Pennypacker about a pet fox separated from his beloved boy in an unidentified country torn by a terrible war.
My evergreen favorite picture books, which hold up beautifully to repeated readings, as all the best picture books do, are “Madlenka’s Dog” both written and illustrated by Peter Sis and “The King’s Taster” by Kenneth Oppel.
Finally, I once considered writing a book about a time traveling dog. But Kate Messner beat me to it, and is deep into her Scholastic series “Ranger in Time.” I’ve read them all. Her 2018 offering, “D-Day: Battle on the Beach,” is one of the best.