A good story about a dog in WW I. I liked the idea of Poppy being different the stories of her heroism.

This is a charming tale about a fox spirit (kitsune) who gains nine tails.  I wish the ending had been a bit more developed, but the story is lovely.  It really is a look at philosophy more than anything else.  

Sad in parts, but there is some interesting history here about animals during the American Civil War.  Good historical photos too.

Disclaimer: ARC via Netgalley.

                A few years ago, I stopped playing my city’s local paper simply because it sucked.  It really did.  I heard that it has gotten better, but I don’t know.  The only thing that I have missed from that paper was McDonnell’s Mutts.  (Yes, I know, but reading it in a newspaper is different, okay?).

                Mutt is great because Earl and Mooch and their people and friends are anyone’s pets.  Your dog or cat may look different but they either act like Earl and Mooch all the time, or act like one of the supporting animals.  It’s not like Garfield or Heathcliff.  Furthermore, McDonnell does quite a bit about animal rescue and shelters.  It’s hard not to like this strip.

                The Winter Diaries are pretty much what the gang gets up to or doesn’t get up to, in winter.  They try hibernating.  They meet a penguin, who may, just may, be a stand in for people in general, and they hang with bears.  We see what the squirrels get up to and watch Mooch try to find two identical snowflakes.

                And then there is the evil weatherman.

                At the end of the book is a brief guide to what animals featured in the comic really, truly do during the winter and what you can do to make life a bit easier for them.

                And this is what makes Mutts wonderful because it is for cat and dog lovers, not one or either, and for those who like animals in general.  It’s funny because it is true. 

                I mean, what cat owner hasn’t been spooned by the furry beast and what dog doesn’t got boing when on a walk?

Okay, I have to ask what the hell Phillip Pullman has against Dahl’s version of Little Red Riding Hood because I love it.  We need more girls to know that version than Walter de la Mare’s.

                Sorry, had to get it out of the way.

                This collection is de la Mare’s retellings of famous fairy tales, mostly from the Brothers Grimm, and if you though the Grimms cleaned things up too much, you are going to think that de le Mare has some type  of mental illness. 

                It’s strange, though, the tales that aren’t source from the Grimms tend to be the better ones.  De la Mare adapts Aesop’s “Tortoise and the Hare” for the British child, making it “The Hedgehog and the Hare,” and it is a very charming tale.  It’s the best one in the book.   The retelling of “Bluebeard” is better too though it wanes a little at the end.  De la Mare has a thing against beautiful, vain, and dumb women.  Honestly, one of those shows up, you know something bad is going to happen.  The retelling of Dick Whittington is good too, though the cat becomes male for some reason.

                There are some beautiful descriptions in the stories.