Sally Goes to Heaven by Stephen Huneck

Sally Goes to Heaven by Stephen Huneck

Rating: 5 stars

Our own black dog--her name is Lulu, not Sally--is luckily not going to Heaven this week.  But when she does, I'm glad to have another book to read to my kids to make that lesson a little less painful.

I've reviewed three other Sally books (there are more)--Sally Gets a Job, Sally's Great Balloon Adventure, and Sally Goes to the Vet--and explained how much I like the very simple, very straightforward yet still very unique woodcut illustrations in the books. And I like Sally a whole lot!  How sad but appropriate that after these adventures and life experiences, she dies.  And goes to Heaven.

The first few pages of the book are about how difficult it is for Sally to eat and move. And then, the next morning, "Sally wakes up in heaven." And the joy begins!  She runs in circles really fast, without any sort of pain. There's a gigantic mound of smelly socks for her to sniff like crazy--hurray! All the animals play together; no one is afraid of anyone else. Meatballs grow on bushes and there are ice cream stands--for dogs!--on every block. Frisbees fill the sky!

Sally just wishes she could comfort her family and friends and let them know that all is good, her pain is gone, and that she is happy.

This is a very sweet book about a very sad time in the life of a family, but Huneck focuses the pet death experience about the dog and the wonderful things she's doing in Heaven. It's a "good to know about" book for when you need it.

(Another book very similar to this book you might also want to know about: Dog Heaven by Cynthia Rylant...)

Sally's Snow Adventure by Stephen Huneck

Sally's Snow Adventure by Stephen Huneck

Rating: 5 stars

I'm not really counting down the days till winter, but I'm trying to keep that un-excitement a secret from Lorelei and Ben.  Part of the problem of our last winter--apart from several storms with many feet of snow each, the fact that Ben was barely walking on solid ground, let alone ice and snow, and losing power on a 9 degree night--was my attitude.  I'm trying to improve it a bit before the snow starts following.

This book does help!  A little.  (I know, I know, it's still barely fleece-wearing temperature outside now in mid-September, but...I'm trying to be optimistic.)  Sally and her family (whom we never see) go on to a dog-friendly lodge in the snow-covered mountains.  Sally meets lots of new canine friends, including two rescue dogs who tell her to stay on the trails so she doesn't get lost.  One afternoon she tries all the fun winter sports: skiing, sledding, and saucering.  By dinnertime she's at the top of the mountain and wants to take a shortcut home.  She gets lost but then gets rescued--a great little, early lesson for Lorelei and Ben about the importance of staying on established trails.  The lesson helps in a large, woodsy poison-ivy-filled backyard with one marked trail.

Fall is barely here, but that means winter is just around the corner.  Lorelei seems excited to try the sports Sally does in the book, which is a nice change from last year when she lasted about five minutes in the snow.   I'll be grateful if it means this winter is better than last!

Sally Goes to the Vet by Steve Huneck

Sally Goes to the Vet by Steve Huneck

Rating: 4.5 stars

I'm so glad we had this book on our (borrowed from the library) shelf, because we had to take Lulu, our black dog, to the vet yesterday.  In the book, Sally the black lab "plays the chasing game" with her friend Bingo the cat.  She is running too fast to see a root in front of her, and she trips and falls and hurts herself.  She's carried to the car and the vet examines her--looks at her eyes, her mouth, x-rays her, and then gives her a shot.  Sally wonders if the shot will hurt; the vet says if she thinks of a happy thought she won't feel a thing.  We get a cute shot of lovable Sally with a thought bubble of an ice-cream cone.  After she gets home, she tells Bingo about her trip to the vet, including how she learned how to think of happy thoughts.  The last page shows the two friends cuddling together, with a thought bubble coming from Bingo, with Sally in it.  Cute!

Here at our house, Lulu just needed a bordatella shot.  Lorelei was really interested in going in with her (if it's just a shot, a vet technician can just take the dog back alone, without us, or we can go back with Lulu) to tell Lulu to have a happy thought.  We had a lot of fun wondering what that happy thought might be for our own black dog: a treat, some leftover meat, popcorn, Guidry (our other weimaraner), or maybe Lorelei and Ben!  As soon as we got to the vet's office, though, Lorelei and Ben both became way too interested in the tiny kids' play area and forgot why we were there.  Good ol' Lulu shuffled back with the vet technician and emerged back so quickly that Lorelei and Ben insisted they needed five more minutes of playing time.

Maybe next time they'll want to hold her paw during her shot.

Sally Gets a Job by Stephen Huneck

Sally Gets a Job by Stephen Huneck

Rating: 4.5 stars

Today during our fairly regular "girls outing" during Ben's Saturday afternoon nap, Lorelei and I went to the library.  We love going, and we both love going while "the little guy" (as we all call Ben) is sleeping, instead of running around loudly, trying to pull books off shelves and wrestle with the stuffed alligators they have for other little guys.

Lorelei was pretty pooped from a morning at the playground, so I just wanted to sit and read with her.  Sometimes the library can be an overwhelming place, and finding the right books that are simultaneously familiar and known is tough.  I was heading over to the H section to look at Kevin Henkes books (we sure do love Lilly!) when I saw that our little local library --gasp!-- had every single one of Stephen Huneck's Sally books.  Lorelei was as excited as I was, which made me smile even bigger.  We pulled them out--all six of them--and read them all in a row. 

We liked them all, but we have our favorites.  This is one of them, that we brought home to read with Ben.  Lorelei and I were both a little intrigued by the title of this one and wondered out loud what sort of a job Sally the dog could get.  We soon found out!  The book starts out: "It's a lucky dog that has a family, and a lucky family that has a dog."  I was so hooked!  I almost teared up over it (yes, I cry at Hallmark commercials).  I'll try and continue without getting choked up... 

Sally watches her family go to work and school each day and thinks that maybe she should get a job, too.  So she envisions jobs for herself: bus driver (driving other dogs), a teacher (of obedience class), an archeologist (because she's good at digging), a paleontologist (because she likes bones), a rescue dog (saving animals from burning buildings).  Once again, the charm is in the huge pictures.  Stephen Huneck's woodcuts are simple and wonderful and different, and just plain charming.  She finally realizes that she has the best job in the world: taking care of her family.  Awww!

The final illustration is the little boy in the family playing tug-of-war with Sally; each has one end of the sock in her/his mouth.  I know that it's only a matter of time that Ben attempts this with our dogs.  I sure hope it doesn't result in a trip to the dentist!

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.