100 Books Like Beloved Dog

Of course fate could bring a whale and a mouse together, their bond of friendship lasting for the rest of their lives! In his matter-of-fact yet sparkling and stylish way, William Steig always made the fantastical seem unremarkable. I have given this book to at least five friends. Its quirky and gorgeous illustrations (by Steig, who was also a brilliant cartoonist) are as vital to the story as the words. Amos & Boris is just one of those books that does not condescend to young readers and is therefore as appealing to adults as children. I recommend it because Steig understood that kids can handle the deepest of deep life-and-death stories, and if those stories happen to feature animals, well...all the better!

I read it in the 5th grade, and it set the bar for the type of story I yearn to read. It’s such a heartwarming story up until it rips open the heart. It helped me through a difficult loss in my youth.

I found myself walking beside the main character and his two dogs, enduring their cold hunts and sobbing over his loss. 

I mean, not sure how much I need to say about the delight this book has brought to children since 1952. After being asked to read it to a group of first graders recently, I dissolved into tears having to read the scene where Charlotte dies, alone. The students that day thought I was silly. Yeah, as a kid, that didn’t bother me much. As an adult, well.

There’s something in this tale of love, friendship, and courage for all ages. Excellent for read-aloud if you are willing to commit to using different voices and really hamming it up.

When Rick Bragg shuffles home to his mother’s place in rural Alabama, spent from chemotherapy, depression, and years of hard living, he figures it’ll take a sweet old dog to lick the crankiness out of him.

There’s nothing sweet about the stray who shows up at the side of the road, “seventy-six pounds of wet hair and bad decisions.” In a willful Australian shepherd with a ruined eye and a lust for carrion, Bragg recognizes himself—his wounds, his tenacity, his devotion to family. Speck “would rather die than be clean” but he stands by his people when they need him, and Bragg is his number one human.

I loved the humor, pathos, and Southern character that elevate this story of redemption by a dog over more predictable versions.

I grew up reading just about everything that Beverly Clearly wrote, and while it would be impossible for me to choose a favorite, Ralph S. Mouse’s adventure with a boy named Keith, who is vacationing in the Mountain View Inn with his family, is one that doesn’t get old, even after all these years. What kid wouldn’t love a story about a talking mouse, not to mention a mouse that saves the day riding a toy motorcycle in search of medicine for his sick new human friend? I certainly did! And if you can’t get enough of Ralph, there are two more books in the series.

Emily Dickinson composed poetry aloud while walking her Newfoundland, Carlo.

Edith Wharton wrote in bed, surrounded by the lapdogs she adored.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was a housebound invalid until the “dognapping” of her cocker spaniel, Flush, drew her into one of London’s most dangerous corners to save the friend of her heart. The escapade set her on the path to independence, marriage to Robert and literary renown.

For each woman profiled in this book, writing was an act of courage. Dogs pulled them forward—if not with their vulnerability to armed criminals, then with their steadfast devotion in the face of loneliness, grief, or discouragement. Maureen Adams’ tender storytelling shows what literary icons share with everyone who loves a dog.

“She died sniffing life, and enjoying it,” wrote E.B. White in his obituary for Daisy, a terrier hit by a cab while smelling a Manhattan flower shop.

White had a keen eye for the distinctive personalities of dogs, and he shared his life with many, who scamper to life in this compendium of essays, letters, and occasional pieces. My favorite of his canine characters, the curmudgeonly dachshund Fred, “saw in every bird, every squirrel, every housefly, every rat, every skunk, every porcupine, a security risk and a present danger to his republic.”

White had better-natured dogs; none got under his skin like Fred. Love can be complicated, White reminds us. Even between human and dog.

TV’s Lassie saved children from wildfire and quicksand. Real-life service dogs save entire families from the isolation and stress of a child’s incurable illness or severe disability.

Through the vivid stories of compromised kids who blossom with highly trained dogs, Greene celebrates the canine gift for understanding us humans—rooted in 10,000 years of interspecies history but ignored by science until the recent past.

This book gripped, moved, and informed me while hitting close to home. Like my own rescue mutt, many service dogs were trained by prisoners who discovered their own best selves by teaching an unwanted animal to love. Humans and dogs need each other, as Greene shows with heartfelt but rigorous reporting. 

A generation or so after The Calamitous Event (TCE), our hero’s dog is stolen by an unexpected visitor to their remote home in the Outer Hebrides. This book is my definition of a cracking good read. It has adventure, surprises, and insights into the human condition that led to TCE in the first place. Above all, it features a boy and his overwhelming mission - to get his dog back. If, like me, you love dogs you are going to love this book.

Lynley Dodd is another master rhymer famous for her series about the scruffy dog Hairy McLary from Donaldson’s Dairy. I though, particularly like Schnitzel on Krumm, the daschund, and fell under the spell of this book the first time I heard it read:

"Tucked in a hideyhole
Under the stir
Lay a rickety basket
In need of repair; a chewed up old cushion,
A blanket all worn
Everything broken
And smelly and torn
And
Under that blanket his paws on his tum
Happily snoring
Lay Schnitzel von Krumm."

His owners are determined to give him a clean new basket but does he like the things they offer? The refrain "No not a bit" runs through the book until at last, he gets his old smelly blanket back.

I recommend this book because it is warm and funny and is a story to which children, who hate being separated from their… show more.