Birchbark Books and Native Arts

Sylvie

I love to sing! I'm a soprano and am especially fond of operatic music, though I'm happy to chime in on just about anything. You know that Jimmie Rodgers kind of yodeling? LOVE THAT! My human was always bragging that she "taught" me to sing, so I showed her the new book The Great Animal Orchestra by naturalist and musician Bernie Krause, all about how humans learned to make music from listening to US, the animals, the birds and insects, even the wind and water. I thought she ought to know. Now when we sit and listen to the music of the natural world, we’ll both be listening with enlightened ears.

How many lonely afternoons have I spent longing for a brother or sister!?! Oh, we'd romp and wrestle, run and tousle, sniff and snuggle--I'd be the perfect big sister, a veritable font of wisdom and guidance! I began leaving pictures of cute puppies and Humane Society brochures lying around. My human took the hint. "OK", she says, "it's an interesting idea but what if your new sibling wants to be the boss, doesn't want to do things your way?" Well, I hadn't even considered THAT possibility. So we read Kevin Kling's new book for children about this very problem: Big Little Brother. The illustrations (by Chris Monroe) are wonderful, and I love to read it over and over again. (It's perfect for two- and four-leggeds with short attention spans.) I've begun pleading again with renewed vigor...and more realistic expectations. Keep your fingers crossed for me, ok?

There are advantages to having a human who works in a bookstore. We got a sneak-peak at Danielle Sosin’s debut novel The Long-Shining Waters (Milkweed Editions) and is it wonderful! We read it in one fell swoop, only taking breaks for fetch and treats. It follows three women living on the shores of Lake Superior in very different times but I think the main character is the Lake itself, which Danielle describes in a thousand vivid ways. (THEN I got to visit the author in her home overlooking that big blue expanse, and I liked her so much I couldn’t decide whether I’d rather sleep with her or my own human—so I traded back and forth all night.) Snatch it up--it’s beautiful and haunting, and will make you want to head north to the Great lake to play in the waves.

Oh, the boredom! The snow’s too deep, it’s too cold to play outside—and to make matters worse, I can’t get my human interested in indoor play because she’s got her nose buried in a book! Well, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. So I cuddle up next to her and her copy of When Everything Changed: the Amazing Journey of American Women From 1960 to the Present by New York Times columnist Gail Collins. While the subject of my reading has previously been limited to my own kind—four-leggeds, that is—this history of her kind over the last 50 years is thoroughly engrossing and enjoyable. She says Collins’ venture into social history reminds her of David Halberstam’s—can’t-put-it-down story-telling as addictive as good fiction. She’s complaining that it’s distracting her from all the work she has to do. “You’d better get busy,” I say. “Just leave me the book.”

Squirrels! Endlessly engrossing, thrilling to chase. I do my part to keep them in line because you know their ultimate goal, don't you? World domination. And chipmunks? Even more fascinating for being less ubiquitous and able to disappear like magic. So when my human companion brings home a new collection of stories by David Sedaris, Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk---double whammy! But there are actually all kinds of animals featured in this collection of parables, and......they’re talking and acting a lot like humans. My companion chuckles as we read them, using words like “droll” and “sardonic,” “deliciously wry”. This is definitely not for the kids, she says, but a yummy helping of Sedaris humor for adults and dogs.

My human companion is sweet and all, really I love her a lot. But trying to communicate with her can be SO frustrating. It's like we're from different species or something...oh.. wait.... Anyway, she understands a few simple signals but most of the time I can wear myself out with penetrating looks, firm paw touches, wags, whimpers; she gives me that sappy clueless look. "What do you want, Sylvie? I don't understand." If I turn it up a notch and bark, jump around a little, she cracks herself up with " What?! Timmy's trapped in the old mine again?" Time for serious measures. I showed her this book, Inside of a Dog by Alexandra Horowitz. I tell you it’s as if the author found a window into my psyche. My companion was skeptical at first, but the quote on the first page pulled her in: "Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read."

Sylvie spends a lot of time in the store lately and she's noticed some intriguing titles: What the Dog Saw, Walter the Farting Dog (haha), Neither Wolf Nor Dog, Eating Animals (scary!). But based on the pure joy she experienced reading Kevin Kling's The Dog Says How, she has settled in with Kevin's new collection of stories, Kevin Kling's Holiday Inn. No mention of dogs in the title this time, but perfect for sending her off to dreamland with a smile on her face.