Ribsy

 Ribsy
by: Beverly Cleary
1964
paperback 192 pages, larger kid-print

One evening after a great pizza at new restaurant in the Heights, we took a walk with the couple we ate with.  On the walk there was a red box that caught our attention and it turned out to be a local book box... like a very mini library.  Kristina and i browsed the books and as there were not any she had read to recommend to me, i chose one that i know i had read years ago when i was a kid.  Ribsy was written one year before i was born and it was interesting to me to think back to how life used to be lived... like new station wagons, phone numbers that began with two letters, the Pledge of Allegiance at school, show and tell in the class room, and so on.  I liked how Ribsy was a dog of great patience and as i am presently seeking to be more patient he was a good teacher.  The book is "a boy and his dog" kind of story, but in chapter one they get separated and in the 6 chapters to follow the story tells of Ribsy's adventures before the inevitable ending to wrap things up nicely.  It was fun to read things from the dog's point of view and i think most pet-lovers would enjoy this step back in time look at a month in the life of a dog and how he is joyfully reunited with his boy.