About the book:

Title: Muffy & Valor: A True Story

Author: Karl Beckstrand , Brandon Rodriguez (illustrator)

Published: August 16th 2017 by Karl Beckstrand

Source: received in exchange of an honest review

Format: e-copy

Blurb:

(Nonfiction, dogs) After a painful injury, a little dog named Muffy learns empathy for a German shepherd that has been hit by a car. Illustrated dog book teaches compassion, friendship, courage, and trust (kids ages 4 – 7). 700 words in dyslexic-friendly font by award-winning children’s author Karl Beckstrand (Mini-mysteries for Minors [multicultural/bilingual series]), illustrated by Brandon Rodriguez , 28-page picture book (also hard and soft cover) with Hispanic family, minority child, big dogs, and online extras

Check it on: Amazon  & Goodreads

My Review:

I received a review copy of this book and this is such a fine book to read to your children! I loved it so much and I do believe it is a very useful way to spend some time with the little one, while inspiring a love of books and animals.

There is a strong moral angle to Muffy’s story and a quite real one, since this is a true event, as indicated by the author. While the illustrations help the child relate to the action, the final part where the author tells the real story is more for the adult reader and thus appealing to a different kind of audience as well.

The beautiful images drawn by Brandon Rodriguez are very vivid and shiny in a sort of way. Since I read this book on a Kindle, my impressions about the format may not be as accurate. But I liked how the emotions were painted on the characters and the different variety of dogs included. I was not very fond of the way Valor’s wound was presented, maybe it could have been censored somehow, but this has not affected my rating at all.

All in all, this is a very interactive book, with beautiful illustrations that will for sure catch the attention of children. Well, even I liked it, at my almost 30 years. Now I really wished I had a dog…

 

About the Author

Karl Beckstrand is the award-winning and bestselling author of 18 multicultural titles and more than 50 e-books (reviews by Kirkus, The Horn Book blog, School Library Journal, ForeWord Reviews). Beckstrand earned a B.A. in journalism from BYU, an M.A. in international relations from APU, and a certificate from Film A. Academy.

Once a technical recruiter in Silicon Valley, Beckstrand’s early work was produced by two publishers (the first died the day they were to print his book!). Since 2004 he has guided Premio Publishing & Gozo Books. An engaging speaker and workshop facilitator, Beckstrand has experience in high tech, public policy, film, and broadcasting. He teaches media at a state college—including TV/radio scripts and Web content—and contrasts traditional publishing with digital book publishing.

His Y.A. fiction, short stories, kids’ e-book mysteries, nonfiction/biographies, Spanish & bilingual books (with ESL/ELL pronunciation guides), and wordless books feature characters of color and usually end with a twist. He has lived abroad, been a Spanish/English interpreter, and speaks on diversity. He enjoys volleyball and kayaking (usually not at the same time).

Beckstrand has presented for SUECON (education conference), Taiwan’s Global Leadership for Youth, California’s Capital Book Festival, Utah Educational Library Media Association, Called to Learn conference, Salt Lake City Book Festival, PCI Webinars, Utah Humanities Council, Profnet, Murray City Writer’s Workshop, Utah Housing Coalition, LUW, Midvale City Reading Program, Utah Office of Education, professional groups, and schools. His racially diverse work has appeared in: Amazon, Baker & Taylor, Barnes & Noble, Border’s Books, Brodart, Costco, Deseret Book, The Children’s Miracle Network, The Congressional Record of the U.S. House of Representatives, Papercrafts Magazine, LDS Film Festival, EBSCO, Follett, iBooks, Kobo, SCRIBD, various broadcasts, and PremioBooks.com.

Website: http://karlbeckstrand.com

Twitter: @karlbeckstrand