 |
Author Harkey has created a children's book that is both enjoyable and educational, highlighting many fascinating features of animal life through the eyes of two enthusiastic German Shepherds—Nini and Lobo—and a helpful, if sometimes sneaky, pack rat named Speedy. Brightly enhanced by artist Mike Minick, the two dogs trade reminiscences of the good times they have enjoyed. One shared enthusiasm was awakening their sleeping human caretakers with screeches made by pressing Nini's prized squeeze toy, Pink Piggy. But Nini tells her friend with deep anxiety and genuine misery that the beloved Piggy is now missing.
Fortunately, Lobo remembers that a local pack rat named Speedy loves to grab "anything he can find" to decorate his midden, the nest where he stows his stolen treasures. Impelled by this suspicion, the canines rush to their doggy door, crash together, then separate, racing out into the deep snow that fell the night before. Lobo assures the nervous Nini that the white coating will not prevent them from finding the rat, since Speedy likes to eat plant seeds, resulting in his poop dropping in small dots as he darts about. Following a trail of the creature's leavings, they arrive at the hollow tree trunk where Speedy makes his home. Speedy confesses he took Pink Piggy to enhance his cozy den, but dropped it to grab a shiny trinket instead. Together, the trio will search their deep white surroundings for Nini's beloved toy as a snow tornado arises.
After this saga reaches a satisfying closure, Harkey's dynamic work is transformed into its second half: "Activities." Youthful readers will engage in exercises relating to her stimulating yarn. They will be encouraged to search for pink objects in their own environment and work a crossword puzzle and a word search based on the story's vocabulary, with terms such as "nudged," "screeched," "tinsel," and "chops," and given clues allowing them to array the tale's plot in proper order.
Harkey, who has written numerous children's books, has years of experience as a schoolteacher, Sunday school teacher, and volunteer docent in two museum settings, in which she was able to skillfully develop children's programs and presentations. She is a featured writer in many publications, including American Kennel Club Gazette, OKC Pets Magazine, Tulsa Pets Magazine, Story Monsters Ink, and Tempo: Arts & Entertainment Magazine. She also maintains an ongoing alliance with the America Tonight radio show, featuring Kate Delaney, and with WebTalkRadio with John Crowley.
The author's personal attachment to her hunting dog, as well as her professional and voluntary roles as an inspirational child educator and entertainer, forms a solid, credible background for this creation, her latest offering. Her audience will always include both youngsters and the caregivers and family members who can oversee the fulfillment of her well-considered exercises that give fictional tales a wider purpose. As is well demonstrated in this latest volume, Harkey imbues her writings with a fresh understanding of the connections between human sensitivities and the gifts abounding in the vastness of nature.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review
Harkey's Solitary Toes and Brown-Headed Cowbirds was a 2022 Eric Hoffer Book Award Grand Prize Short List book.