{"id":307,"date":"2018-12-31T11:41:51","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T11:41:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=307"},"modified":"2018-12-31T11:41:51","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T11:41:51","slug":"lone-star-book-reviewsby-michelle-newby-nbcccontributing-editor-32","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=307","title":{"rendered":"Lone Star Book ReviewsBy Michelle Newby, NBCCContributing Editor"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/span>Michelle Newby<\/span> is contributing editor at Lone Star Literary Life, reviewer for Foreword Reviews, freelance writer, member of the National Book Critics Circle, and blogger at www.TexasBookLover.com. Her reviews appear or are forthcoming in Pleiades Magazine, Rain Taxi, World Literature Today, South85 Journal, The Review Review, Concho River Review, Monkeybicycle, Mosaic Literary Magazine, Atticus Review, <\/span>and The Collagist.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lone Star Book Reviews
of Texas books appear weekly
at LoneStarLiterary.com<\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n
\n

Folklore<\/p>\n

Patricia Vermillion<\/span><\/p>\n

Hound Dawg<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Illustrated by Cheryl Pilgrim<\/span><\/p>\n

Texas Christian University Press<\/p>\n

978-0-87565-615-1, hardcover, 40 pgs., $21.95<\/p>\n

August 28, 2015<\/p>\n

Hound Dawg is librarian Patricia Vermillion\u2019s retelling<\/span> of the folktale \u201cThe Little Red Hen\u201d with a Texas twist. Veteran illustrator Cheryl Pilgrim<\/span> provides whimsical images in the tradition of American folk art. Lazy Hound Dawg lives on a cotton farm with his industrious friends: Bessie the Cow, Calico the Cat, and Penny the hen. Hound Dawg<\/span><\/a><\/span> is the story of how this idle hound (\u201cWhy he never worked a lick. The only thing he did was bark and howl\u201d) earns his nickname: Guard Dawg.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

One day Hound Dawg spies a sprout pushing up through the dirt patch next to his porch. Bessie the Cow inspects the sprout and declares it a cornstalk. Hound Dawg daydreams of cornbread while his exasperated friends (\u201cGreat balls of fur,\u201d Calico said. \u201cI\u2019ll do it\u201d) do all the work: tending, watering, harvesting, and baking. Meanwhile Hound Dawg channels Prissy from Gone With the Wind: \u201cI don\u2019t know nothing about making cornbread.\u201d When I read that my brain added the \u201cMiss Scarlett.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, when Hound Dawg smells the cornbread baking, he shows up for chow. Shamed by his friends, he slinks back out the door and under the porch, which turns out to be the perfect vantage point to see Raccoon headed for the freshly baked cornbread cooling on the windowsill. So Hound Dawg does what hound dogs do, chasing off Raccoon and saving the day. And that is how he earned his nickname, Guard Dawg. \u201cAnd from that day \u2019til this, Hound Dawg always does \u2014 and gets \u2014 his fair share.\u201d<\/p>\n

While some adults may find Hound Dawg a tad heavy on the cornpone (Bessie the Cow is fond of exclaiming \u201cbless my butter\u201d), your little ones will love it, especially if read aloud with the proper twang. Children should be introduced to the joys of puns early (Penny the Hen declares the cornbread \u201ceggcellent\u201d). There are valuable lessons in this timeless tale: the work ethic and sharing, as well as forgiveness; the Texas twist makes it more fun.<\/p>\n

Hound Dawg <\/span>includes a bibliography, lesson plan suggestions for teachers, a recipe for cornbread, and fun facts about cotton and corn. These fun facts are a pleasant surprise. For example, cottonseed oil is used in toothpaste, baseballs, and motorcycle windshields, among other things. Did you know that corn is used in crayons, fireworks, and shoe polish, and that an ear of corn has 800 kernels? True story. I\u2019m off to mail my copy to my grandson.<\/p>\n

* * * * *<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michelle Newby is contributing editor at Lone Star Literary Life, reviewer for Foreword Reviews, freelance writer, member of the National Book Critics Circle, and blogger at www.TexasBookLover.com. Her reviews appear or are forthcoming in Pleiades Magazine, Rain Taxi, World Literature Today, South85 Journal, The Review Review, Concho River Review, Monkeybicycle, Mosaic Literary Magazine, Atticus Review, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}