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:  

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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.