Hill publisher Lola and Pear adds another charmer to their line-up of children’s books with the story of a little girl named Gela who finds her canine soul mate.
It all begins at the animal shelter, where Gela is surveying her choices when she sees one dog who catches her eye—and captures her heart. “Why doesn’t anyone want her?” she asks about the sad-looking pooch wrapped in a blanket. Because, she’s told, like many dogs, this one is “confused and scared about being in a shelter, and sometimes that makes people confused and scared about adopting them.”
Gela realizes that taking on the care of a dog is a big responsibility—all that walking and feeding and playing and hugging, not to mention picking up dog poop (“Eeeewwww!”)—but it only takes one look into the dog’s sweet mug to convince her that it would be worth it. Rosie is the dog for her.
In “Rosie to the Rescue: The Story of an Everyday Superhero,” author Angela Kissel tells how the adopted dog has trouble at first adapting to her new home. Then one day she gets tangled up in a blanket—inadvertently donning a “cape”—and wakes up a superhero, at least in Gela’s eyes. Never mind that the little girl is the only one who can see Rosie’s superpowers. In the end, it takes a hospital visit with an understanding patient to teach her what it really takes to become a superhero (hint: it’s not a cape).
In addition to “Rosie to the Rescue,” local publisher Lola and Pear Publishing is also responsible for “Mommy Didn’t Say That…” (co-written by McGill and Charla Everhart). All three books are illustrated by Lola and Pear co-founder and creative director John Paul Snead, whose knack for capturing canine expressions is matched only by the warmth and whimsey of the vignettes he brings to life.As with all Lola and Pear books, a portion of the sales goes to a charity, in this case the Stand Up for Pits Foundation, Inc., which advocates for pit bull “type” dogs. www.lolaandpear.com
Karen Lyon is the Hill Rag’s Literary Editor, President Emerita of the annual Literary Hill BookFest, a Contributor to Folger Magazine and writes the monthly Literary Hill column. You can reach her at [email protected].
