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Saturday, October 30, 2010

Katie Up and Down the Hall--Book Review and GIveaway--3 Winners!






Katie Up and Down the Hall is a heartwarming book about a little cocker spaniel named Katie who pulls together strangers and turns the unrelated individuals into a family.    The main characters in the book are Pearl and her husband of 59 years Arthur,a single father John and his young son Ryan, the author and of course, Katie.  Their love of, and caring for, Katie transforms these strangers into an unlikely group that share meals, good times, illnesses and deaths, that eventually makes them a family unit.


I love books about animals and found I loved this one as well.  Although the middle of the book was a bit slower for me personally, the first third and last third grabbed my attention with personal memories shared by the author.  The author of the book is Glenn Plaskin who has written several books and contributed to numerous magazines and newspapers including Family Circle, Ladies Home Journal, the Daily News and New York Times.  The first third of the book includes recollections of the many famous celebrities he interviewed--from lunch or meetings with Ivana Trump and Senator Edward Kennedy, to even introducing Peter Jennings to Mr. Plaskin's favorite celebrity and Katie's namesake, Katherine Hepburn over lunch.   Katie often accompanied the author on his interviews and even managed to sneak into "no dogs allowed" buildings and hospitals. 




One of the aspects of the book I found most fascinating is his first hand account of 9/11 later in the book.  He lived in a penthouse apartment with a view of the Twin Towers and of the Statue of Liberty.   On 9/11 he was at home and witnessed the highjacked planes hitting the towers.    As the residents fled the apartments in fear, he felt the enormous impact of the towers collapsing and his senses were overwhelmed by the dust and smoke that engulfed the residents.   He shares the horrors of witnessing people jumping from the windows of the towers, to the Hudson being patrolled with machine gun manned police boats and the refrigerated trucks a month later storing human remains as the rescuers recovered them.    But he also chronicles the incredible coming together of perfect strangers with the young helping the old,  and the outreaching offers of help from friends and family. 

And of course scattered throughout the whole book are stories of Katie from her funny antics, her nonstop searching for food treats, her outrageous outfits, and her incredible love and sense of loyalty to her "family" members.  It's obvious that the strong love and devotion between the pet and the humans worked both ways. 


Check out the homepage of katiebook.com to read more about Glenn Plaskin and Katie, as well as see pictures of all the "family", hear the author reading excerpts from the book, and view a videotape.   Check it out!

Buy It:    If you think you'd enjoy reading the book, you  can purchase it from Amazon.

Win It:   Valerie from Hachette Books has been generous and offered THREE of my readers a copy of the book.

Mandatory Entry:    Comment below with the name of a dog you've loved.

Extra Entries:  

1)  Follow me on GFC  (2 entries so leave 2 comments)
2)  Subscribe to my feed
3)  Sign up for my email newsletter in the upper right side bar and make sure to verify the link in the email you'll receive   (2 entries so leave 2 comments)
4)   Blog about this on your own blog with a link here.   (5 entries so leave 5 comments)
5)   Enter any other open giveaway.
6)  Visit the katiebook site and tell me something interesting you found there.
7)   Read my post about swagbucks HERE and leave a comment on it.   Come back to let me know on this post
8)  Join swagbucks through the referral link on this post and get 5 extra entries.  You must be an active member of swagbucks by the end of the giveaway for these entries to count.  Make sure to leave 5 separate entries


RULES:
Giveaway begins now and ends Monday Nov. 15th  at 10 PM EST.   Must be 18 or older to enter and must reside in the US. Winner will be selected with random.org and will be notified by email.   Winner must respond by within 48 hours  or a new winner will be selected.    Prize will be mailed from Hachette Books.

 

Disclosure:   I have not been compensated in any way for this review except receiving a sample of the book to review.     My review is my own and my honest opinion. 

54 comments:

  1. Our current dog "Bella" was an SPCA adoptee - I still can't believe someone had to give her up... she is a sweetheart!

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  2. I follow in Google Friend Connect - Entry #1
    rmelton[at]hotmail[dot]com

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  3. I follow in Google Friend Connect - Entry #2
    rmelton[at]hotmail[dot]com

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  4. Tawny was the first dog we had when I was a kid.

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  5. I love my dog, Midnight, who we rescued after she was dropped out in the country!

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  6. Jen - tradingbooks2009@yahoo.comNovember 2, 2010 at 11:14 PM

    I love my dog Fenway - she has been such a nice addition to our family since we met at the Humane Society.

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  7. jen/ tradingbooks2009@yahoo.comNovember 2, 2010 at 11:17 PM

    I've subscribed to your feed.

    ReplyDelete
  8. jen - tradingbooks2009@yahoo.comNovember 2, 2010 at 11:18 PM

    I signed up for your newsletter.

    ReplyDelete
  9. jen - tradingbooks2009@yahoo.comNovember 2, 2010 at 11:18 PM

    I signed up for your newsletter - take 2 :)

    thanks for the chance to win!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Cinnamon - a red border collie that was a true sweetheart.

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  11. My dog Suki, a peke that I had when I was a teenager....I loved that dog!
    jacque twinmomx5@gmail.com

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  12. bear a german shorthair we all still love
    mverno@roadrunner.com

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  13. I have 2 dogs I love right now - Reeses and Milo! They are our sweeties!
    wilburnnewsome atyahoodotcom

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  14. commented to the swagbucks post
    yeah, swagbucks rocks!

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  15. "Family is anything you want it to be" (from the trailer) - Richard Bach also says something like this in his book 'Illusions' - I agree and this story seems to be a perfect example

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  16. My first dog was MoLait - small, black, with huge ears and a huge heart

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  17. my last dog Rainbow's Golden Freedom
    He was 5 when I got him and lived another full life until 16. He was originally named Rambo but Rainbow suited him better. He is buried now on the horse farm where our paths met.

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  18. Growing up I had a German Shepard named Frisky, after the dog food we fed him.

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  19. I entered the Pear Tree gift card giveaway!
    wilburnnewsome atyahoodotcom

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  20. Misty was my favorite dog when I was younger. She is a very nice German Shepard. Also had a cocker spaniel named Sparky as well which was a sweetie to.

    samsakara@twcny.rr.com

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  21. Zeus, who's the love of my life :)

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  22. I loved many dogs in my life but one that stole my heart was Buster - a golden retriever mix. My best friend and I never knew it until he passed away, my first broken heart.

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  23. Katie was at Meet the Breeds for the AKC!

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  24. The dog I absolutely love is our dog, Ben. He's the most loving, most fun, just the best dog ever!

    mryward(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  25. 1. I follow on GFC. (mamie316)

    mryward(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  26. 2. I follow on GFC. (mamie316)

    mryward(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  27. Taffy was our cocker spaniel!

    theyyyguy@yahoo.com

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  28. The dog I loved was a chihuahua named Chi-Chi.

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  29. I love Mitzi
    Diane Baum
    esldiane@gmail.com

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  30. I've loved many dogs in my lifetime so far. By far the one who held just a little bit bigger piece of my heart was Pugsley. A 70 pound Shar-pei, who died at the age of 5. He was taken from me far too early and I still see his funny looking face that never ceased to make me smile. He was a pure joy to have known and loved.
    eswright18 at gmail dot com

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  31. I loved a dog named bosley.

    kerrie@mayansfamily.com

    ReplyDelete
  32. I loved my childhood dog, Cookie :)
    aleksa91 hotmail com

    ReplyDelete
  33. i love my dog samantha
    susansmoaks at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  34. I love my dog Daisy

    s2s2 at comcast dot net

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  35. We had a lovely dog Stormy, a female Brittany. She was wonderful outside dog until her black lab friend died. She became terrified of storms, crawled into culverts and hid. We brought her in the house so she could be with us!!!

    lknott@partnercom.net

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  36. And Bingo was his name-O!!!! Beautiful soul!!! Bingo the faithful friend.
    lorrainejohnsis(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  37. The dog I've loved and still love is our cockapoo we have now and her name is Phoebe. I have had a few dogs as a child, but they were shared with my other brothers & sister also. We have had Phoebe for almost 8 years and she is a great dog.
    sallylynnsara@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  38. Following you via GFC.
    sallylynnsara@hotmail.com
    #1

    ReplyDelete
  39. Following you via GFC.
    sallylynnsara@hotmail.com
    #2

    ReplyDelete
  40. Subscriber.
    sallylynnsara@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  41. email newsletter subscriber.
    sallylynnsara@hotmail.com
    #1

    ReplyDelete
  42. email newsletter subscriber.
    sallylynnsara@hotmail.com
    #2

    ReplyDelete
  43. Currently our 4-legged kids are Boo, Fred, and Tula. They're and handful and we think Fred has OCD but we wouldn't trade them for anything! :)

    Jemr2@aol dot com

    ReplyDelete