Friday, August 20, 2010

Sally's Great Balloon Adventure by Stephen Huneck

Sally's Great Balloon Adventure by Stephen Huneck

Rating: 5 stars

If you've got a black dog in your life--or any dog, really--this book is a must-read.  We have a "blue" weimaraner named Lulu, so we sometimes read this as "Lulu's Great Balloon Adventure" because we know Lulu would do just the same things Sally does... 

Sally is curious about a hot air balloon, but more curious about the fried chicken in one of the balloon's gondolas.  She can't resist following the scent, so she jumps up and falls into the gondola, then pulls the wrong cord and takes off, by herself!  Everyone calls her name from below, but it's no use.  People have several suggestions on how to rescue her, but it takes a smart little kid and her friends to get her down to earth.  And, miraculously, Sally hasn't touched the fried chicken.  We know our Lulu would have devoured it, even the life-threatening bones.  The kids feed Sally the chicken (sans bones, I think) and Sally is happy to be back on earth, with a fully tummy.

We can't wait to read the other books in this series.  Has anyone else read them? 

The woodcut prints are so different and interesting and simple--it would be so neat to see this process in real life.  I went to his website to see if there was a video or something and I found out this amazing story of Stephen himself.  He was discovered early as an artist and really was a hand-carver first and foremost.  After falling down a flight of stairs in 1994, he was in a coma for 3 months.  His doctors didn't expect him to have a full recovery, but his wife believed and he did.  Right before the accident, he realized he wanted to do a series of books based on his black lab, Sally (he had another black lab named Artie and a golden retriever named Molly, too).  He set to work on them right away after waking from his coma.  He died this past January, just 61; Sally's Great Balloon Adventure was his last book.

Having a glimpse at the author, his life, and his love of dogs makes me appreciate this book even more.

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