Perfect for : Children's reading, encouraging reading, group reading

In a nutshell: This is a great fantasy/holiday book for children and adults alike. The characters are fun and enjoyable, and the settings are well-written. Children will love to read this book and visualize the different towns, and they will likely add their own stories to the tale after reading the book. Additionally, the author has done a great job of making the children and dogs the heroes of the story, and adding little bits of responsibility throughout the book. Read the book over and over to peel back the layers and see something new! The book contains 13 wonderfully drawn illustrations (black and white), and excerpts from the first two books.

Extended Review: A fun and easy read that will engage both children and adults alike. The story is made up of Santa and Mrs. Claus, elves, adults, children and dogs. The author does a great job of weaving the story, creating a world that children will be able to dream about even when they aren't reading.

As a special side note, the books are being used in Therapy Dog Programs in at least five states, with facilitators providing wonderful feedback about the children's interest in reading, and the benefit of the children reading to dogs, who don't judge the reader, allowing them to read without fear of making mistakes. Visit their blog here.

Characters: Fun and well-thought-out. The author has included a list of characters in the front of the book to help keep humans/elves and dogs straight!

Story-Line: With teamwork and a good plan, the children and dogs work together to help save Christmas (Dasher and Dancer - two of Santa's reindeer are missing, and Santa can't deliver presents without them).

Readability: Easy to read, each chapter has a good breaking point.

Illustrations: The inner black and white illustrations are very well-done, and will help the readers to visualize the story. I was a little disappointed in the cover, feeling that it could have been a little more professional with the printing (the illustrations are nice).

Overall: A fun story for the whole family that will encourage children to read and dream! ( )

What a truly wonderful and unique Christmas story for the whole family. Snow Valley Heroes by Robert J. McCarty and illustrated by Stella Mustanoja McCarty is the third offering in series; “Plant of the Dogs.” What an imagination this team has! There is a planet, inhabited by dogs and from time to time, they intervene in our planets affairs. When we are in trouble, when we need love, understanding, loyalty and so many of the other attributes that dogs posses, and we more or less lack, they come to our rescue.
In this latest offering, it seems the wicked King of the North, who has been banished to The Ice Castle, wants revenge and figures the best way to do this is ruin Christmas for everyone. He plots and comes up with the idea of stealing two of Santa Clauses’ Reindeer, thereby putting and end to Christmas for good. The dogs of Dog Planet get word of this, and of course, take action! That, very briefly is the plot.

This Christmas story is quite well written. The paragraphs are nice, short and very crisp. Chapters follow a logical order, and are quite easy to follow, which makes this a very good book to read with your child. The author’s imagination is quite broad, but does not get into the realm of being silly, as so many works in this genre have a habit of seeming to sink into. While I grant you that this story is pure fantasy, it is logical fantasy and uses the story of Santa, his elves, real people, and of course the dogs of Planet of the Dogs quite effectively to make a charming and wonderful story. The portrayal of the personalities of the various animals is spot on; with personalities that will be quite familiar to anyone who has ever shared their life with a dog.

Dog lovers will appreciate every word of this little book. In addition to being an obvious natural story teller with the ability to write well, the author also, beyond a doubt, know dogs! I have been lucky enough to have had companion animals (dogs) since I was born, have raised dogs, trained dogs, hunted with dogs, lived with dogs, worked with dogs, loved dogs and shared my life with dogs for well over sixty years now. Actually, truth be told, I like dogs more than I like most people! Trust me…this author knows dogs!

The art work in this book, by Stella McCarty, is a marvel to they eye. Her soft black and white drawings capture the mood and essence of the story line perfectly. While being extremely detailed, they have a misty, mystical quality about them that make them a pleasure to look at. They are the type of drawing that would be wonderful to have framed an on display in your home. She is a very skilled artist indeed!

Now this is the third book in a series, but fear not! This book can be read and a stand alone. The author has been kind enough to add short summations of the first two books to the back of this one and the reader can be brought up to snuff quite quickly by giving these brief overviews a quick read.

Overall, this is a very good Christmas read; actually a read for anytime and it is an ideal book to snuggle up with the little ones on a cold winter night and simply enjoy. Recommend this one quite highly!

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks ( )

Snow Valley Heroes is the third volume of the Planet of The Dogs books. I have not read the first two books, but this book is able to stand on its own. The beginning of the book explains what the books are about:

"Long, Long ago there were no dogs on planet earth. In those days dogs lived on their own planet in peace and happiness.

The Planet of the Dogs series of books tells the stories of how dogs first came to our planet. They came to teach people about loyalty and love, and to help them find peace. "

In Snow Valley Heroes the dogs have a great and important challenge.
The King of the North, full of revenge and hatred for having been banished
to the ice castle, has stolen two of Santa's reindeer. His goal: ruin
Christmas for everyone. The dogs, on their own planet, are alerted to this near tragedy, and send down a group of dogs from their own Snow Valley, who are used to the snow and the cold, to deal with the situation.

This was a great story. It has much going for it: Christmas that needs saving; dog heroes working with humans to achieve a peaceful resolution to conflict; great names and customs of the northern tribe of people who live near Santa's village; an icy and cruel heart which is melted by the kindness, love, and companionship of dogs; wonderful soft drawings, capturing the spirit of the dogs and the landscape perfectly; and even a map in the beginning to help visualization of this land.

I very much enjoyed the adventure and spirit of this book, and plan on adding it to our list of Christmas books read each year to help us get in the spirit of the holidays. While this book had many great lessons to teach, they were so buried in the plot and excitement of the story, that they did not come out preachy or off putting. I recommend this book to children and dog lovers alike ( )

http://lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com/2008/12/snow-valley-heroes-christmas-tale... ( )