Patchwork Dog and Calico Cat

by Greta Burroughs

Patchwork Dog and Calico Cat are best friends. Even when Patchy follows his nose into mischief, Calico is always there to help him get out of sticky situations. Join the two lovable creatures as Patchy tries to fly like a bird and discovers that soaring through the air is nice, but the landings hurt too much. That doesn't stop him though; he finds a better way to fly.

In the other three stories, Patchy and Calico eat too many apples, confront a not too friendly skunk, and take a magical ride into town. Get ready for lots of fun and laughter as Patchy and Calico take you along on their adventures. Let's go!

Genres: Childrens

57 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 17, 2011

About the author

Greta Burroughs loves to read. No matter where she is, there is always a book close at hand. Her love of reading began at an early age and blossomed over time to include many different genres, her favorite now being fantasy.
As a preschool and elementary school teacher, Greta tried to instill the joy of reading in the children she worked with. Books were an important part of her classroom and story time was the highlight of the day.
It has been a while since Greta was in a classroom but she had lots of experience in reading to children of various ages and remembers what they enjoyed listening to. She tries to incorporate that knowledge into her work as an author and believes it makes her a better writer of children's books.
She now resides in SC with her husband, Robert and three dogs. Greta has six books published at the present time; three in the Patchwork Dog and Calico Cat series, two MG/YA fantasies entitled "Gerald and the Wee People" and "House on Bo-Kay Lane", and a nonfiction account of her experiences with an autoimmune blood disorder called ITP - "Heartaches and Miracles".

For more information on Greta's books visit http://booksbygretaburroughs.weebly.com/

Reviews

[A.E. Curzon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Patchwork Dog and Calico Cat is a series of short stories for young children, portraying the various adventures two friends, the dog and cat in the title. Together they try and learn to fly, get trapped in a shed with a skunk during the rain, and eat sour apples by mistake, to name but a few of their lovely adventures. Though Calico prefers to laze around in comfort, Patchwork is far more adventurous and just can’t resist trying everything – most of which lands him in trouble. At the end of each story there are three fun questions which involve the young readers, keeping their interest up by opening a discussion about what they have read. Marvellous – children can remember the adventure and discuss the message given. Well done to Greta Burroughs - I think that works very well!
This book is lots of fun and great for young animal lovers. Well-written with tons of humour, it can be thoroughly enjoyed by children aged 4 and upwards, and it is rather fun to read out loud as a parent too. The youngest member of my family enjoyed Patchwork and Calico so much; I just had to give them 5 stars.

[Vickie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I previously read Greta’s book ‘Gerald and the Wee People’ and really enjoyed it, so when she asked me to proof her latest book, which was for children, I didn’t have to be asked twice. This book is written for early readers aged between 5 and 8. I don’t have children myself, so I can’t comment on how a child would react to them. I can say that I really like the book. The language is easy and flows well. The paragraphs are small and the storyline is easy to follow. It is deceptively simple though in that there are some ideas for children to think about. It's also funny and sweet, and the tales are interesting. Basically, Patchy is an all-out lover of fun and adventure, but his enthusiasm and overconfidence can lead to hiccups! Literally in some cases! Meanwhile, Calico is a bit more reserved and sensible, often trailing along behind Patchy, hoping to keep him out of trouble out of pure friendship. I love the way that the stories begin with the dog wanting to fly and end with him... I won’t give it away! The relationship between the animals is cute and reads believably, so it works. I really like the pictures and the one with the dog trying to fly made me chuckle. I think it’s good to include drawings in a book for kids. They suit the story because they are cute, fun and quirky. My favourite stories are Can dogs fly?, Wishes come true and Dogs can fly. I think the inclusion of questions at the end of each chapter is a brilliant idea – a way for children to look back over the story and think about it, and remember what happened. There are some lessons to be learnt, told through the two furry characters, and thoughts on friendship. I love the following quote from the first story, which sums up the book for me - "He learned a valuable lesson that day. Be happy with who you are and leave the flying to those who know how to do it." A lovely book for early readers.

[Nicole Storey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Taken from my blog: nicolestorey.wordpress.com
Reviewed by my seven-year-old daughter, Sydney

I really liked this book! I liked the way Patchwork always wanted to go on an adventure and Calico was a scaredy cat. All of the stories were good, but my favorite was Rain, Rain, Go Away because it had another animal in it; a skunk named Tom. I like animals a lot!

I think this book would be good for other kids to read because it has fun pictures. The stories are all good and Mrs. Greta asks questions at the end of the stories to help kids learn. I hope that I can read other stories by Mrs. Greta and I hope that Patchwork and Calico will be in them. Maybe she can add some other animals, too, like maybe a turtle, snake, or a bear! I can help her decide which animals to use because I like them a lot and I know what animals kids like the most. This book is the best and I am glad that I got a chance to read it. Thank you, Mrs. Greta!

**Please note that this review was written by my daughter and all “Mom” did was help her with the spelling and punctuation. I did ask her questions and made suggestions to her as to what she could write about in her review, such as “Why did you like this book”, “Do you think other kids should read it and why”, What was your favorite story and why”, etc.

[Pierre Rooyen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Patchwork Dog and Calico Cat is good, wholesome story-telling with characters I found distinctive and appealing.

I strongly believe in simplicity of writing, that is writing for the reader and not the author. So the clear, direct, short sentences and plain language are lovely.

Not easy for an author to project characters, but I found myself developing a soft spot for Patchwork and Calico.

This is an action story and there is always something on the go. Nice work, author. The down-to-earth setting was great too. (I am not a lover of some of the weird fantasy one gets today.)

I believe Burroughs is aiming the story-telling at ten-year-olds and above. However, as I read, I visualised six and seven year-olds getting a kick out of having this read to them.

My four-star rating means Very Good.

[Nancy Parish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, not just for kids -- I like them, too! Patchy and Calico get into all sorts of trouble, but they always learn something. Great stories, great book series!

[Andi Kesler · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boy, is this the best this author can do? I disagree with some other reviews here, I read this to my kids and they hated it... in fact, they asked me never to read it again. Poorly written book. Maybe I'll give this author another chance. I'll think about it! Not recommended at all.