Somebody's Dog.

by Miska Miles, John Schoenherr (Illustrator)

A dog strays from its owner at the beach and befriends two children

Library Binding

About the author

Patricia Miles Martin aka Miska Miles

Award winning American author. Born in Kansas in 1899. Worked as a teacher before becoming a writer. Apparently she became a writer by accident when she inadvertently found herself in a creative writing class at a local college when her own class was full up. Her first book was actually written whilst attending the course! Her career became very successful. One of her books (Annie and the Old One) was made into a film and received a Newbery Honour award.

She used her experiences of living on a farm and a Navajo reservation and her many travels, to colour her children's fictional stories, most of which were about animals, nature and different cultures. Quite a few of her novels were horse stories. She also wrote non-fiction, including a number of biographies.

She wrote under her own name, as Patricia A. Miles, and also under two other pseudonyms: Miska Miles and Jerry Lane. Her pony books were written under her own name and that of the Miska Miles pseudonym. I don't think she wrote any horse-related stories under her other pen names.

Sources: The De Grummond Collection.

Reviews

[Books Kids Like · Rating 4 out of 5]

An iron gray haired woman sits on the beach under a large umbrella while her dog lies panting in the hot sun. Whenever he whimpers she tells him to be quiet. Suddenly the dog scratches and his collar slips off his head. Away he goes. The dog enjoys exploring all of the sea and sand smells he couldn't smell because of his owner's perfume. When he gets tired of exploring he follows the lunch-time scents into the small village near the beach. He stops at one particular house and waits. Soon a young girl finds him and brings him inside where he greets the girl's brother and parents. The father lets the children keep the dog until his owner claims him. He is still with them when school starts. They chain him the first day, but he growls, barks, and tries to attack everything that comes near the house. They realize that chained like that he feels he must protect their property. From then on they command him to stay under the carport, and he does all day while the family is gone. When next summer comes the iron gray haired lady returns with a poodle under her arm. The dog smells the familiar perfume and goes up to her. He has just rolled in a mud puddle so she yells at him to get away. The dog contentedly goes back home.
©2024 Kathy Maxwell at https://bookskidslike.com

[Spencer · Rating 3 out of 5]

2021
Gift from Harper's grandmother

Basically an abused dog finds a new family