Synopses & Reviews
This story about a courageous dog, written by best-selling author Ellen Emerson White and illustrated by award-winning illustrator Robert Blake, is the perfect gift for Christmas!
It's the week before Christmas, and the families in Oceanport are gathering, buying presents, hanging garlands, and celebrating. But one inhabitant is all alone--a scruffy, brown dog with no home, no owner, and no one to watch out for him. But the dog does have a heart of gold. He comes to the rescue of an elderly woman, a drowning boy, and a family whose house is on fire, at his own peril. Then, on Christmas Eve, the dog finally stumbles, wounded and exhausted, into the arms of the boy who loves him most of all. At last Santa Paws has found a home, just in time for Christmas!
Review
School Library Journal
(October 1, 2003; 0-439-32438-6)
K-Gr 3-A street dog survives on handouts and garbage, struggles to keep warm and dry, and wishes for a human friend. As Christmas approaches, his adventures increase in drama: he herds home a loose bunch of cows, scares off vandals from a Nativity scene, saves a drowning baby, and rescues a family in a burning house. Watercolor illustrations support the overlong text, emphasizing the animal's hardships and his steadfast loyalty, energy, and capacity for "doing good." Readers may weary of his ongoing struggle, the ascribing of human motivations to him, the predictable outcome, and numerous overly convenient plot coincidences long before the sentimental denouement.-S. P. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Publishers Weekly
(September 22, 2003; 0-439-32438-6)
Adapted from a chapter book series, the picture book Santa Paws by Ellen Emerson White, illus. by Robert J. Blake, relates the miraculous feats of heroism and derring-do performed by a nameless, homeless dog. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
About the Author
Ellen Emerson White has written several critically acclaimed novels for young adults, among them THE PRESIDENT'S DAUGHTER, and its follow-up, LONG MAY SHE REIGN, as well as LIFE WITHOUT FRIENDS and LONG LIVE THE QUEEN. Ms. White graduated from Tufts University with a BA in English. She also studied fire science and police science at John Jay College in New York City and is certified to teach high school English. Her interests include the Vietnam War, cooking, downhill skiing, the Boston Red Sox, the New England Patriots, jazz, reading, politics, and pets.