Wow! I Stumbled Upon Something!

Recently I was in my home town library in San Marcos, TX, looking for an audio book to listen to on my drive back to my 2nd place in Huntsville. I came across a selection with an engaging cover showing a dog, a Southwest setting, and a pun. The word mystery was also included. That was enough for me. A mystery with a dog as a character? That was enough for me! The punny title was Thereby Hangs a Tail. I decided to give it a try.

Thus I found myself driving home the next day, alternately chuckling and laughing out loud. Chet, the canine half of this detective team, is also the narrator. He is very smart, incredibly brave, and completely devoted to his master, Bernie. But he is a DOG. He understands a great deal of what the humans say, but has trouble with idioms. For instance when a friend tells Bernie, "You look like something the cat drug in," Chet is mystified. How can that be? There are no cats around...Bernie is so big...

Coupled with the narration from a dog's mind, there is an engaging mystery about a kidnapping, murder, and some corrupt lawmen. Needless to say Chet and Bernie close the case, like always. The series that has four books so far. Along the way I felt like I was picking up some real insights into how a dog thinks.

Back in San Marcos this week, I picked up another book in the series, The Dog Who Knew Too Much. But I felt a little guilty for reading these light books when I could instead be reading some great YA titles. Tonight I decided to learn a bit more about the author, Spencer Quinn. That's when I realized I had stumbled onto something. Spencer Quinn is a pen name for YA author Peter Abrahams. He is well known and recognized for his YA mysteries including Reality Check and Into the Dark. He also writes under his real name for younger readers, with books like Quacky Baseball. I have to confess I have not read his books for young readers, but now I can feel a bit virtuous for enjoying books by an author known and loved by youngsters.

The Chet and Bernie books are tons of fun. There is enough "adult material" to satisfy adult readers, but I would have them in my high school libraries as well. Give Chet and Bernie a try and I do recommend the audio, read by Jim Frangione. You'll be doggone glad you did!

Reading about Mt. Everest Climbs is a Timely Topic

In today's Houston Chronicle there is a writeup about an astronaut who tried to reach the summit of Mt. Everest but failed to complete the climb. Not long ago it was all over the news that the Olympic Torch made its way to the top of Everest. Meanwhile, I just finished listening to an audio book, High Crimes, about the shady side of Mt. Everest's ever-increasing magnetism. Then the other dayI was visiting with friend and lit prof Dr. Rosemary Chance about the book and she mentioned that it would go along great with Into Thin Air and Peak. I have not read either, but I am sure that Into Thin Air goes into the dark side of Everest. Sadly, the lower slopes are now crowded with crooks, prostitutes, drug dealers, and scammers as well as climbers. Some guides and guiding companies make the climb sound like a walk in the park, and more and more people are attempting the feat of summiting with less and less experience, preparation, and physical fitness. The result is, among other things, a mounting body count as people make mistakes and fall, get lost, or just physically overextend and lose their lives.

The author of High Crimes has an ax to grind. The group that he and some others pulled together to comprise a Connecticut state climbing expedition turned out to be an assortment of incompatible individuals, some with less than laudable intentions. In fact, by the end of their time together, he and some others came to fear for their lives at the hands of certain group members who did not like them. His story is very convincing, and I took time to track down some of the online presences of people he termed troublemakers. His descriptions were accurate at least about their Internet claims. Reading this book as an exercise in sorting out fact vs. opinion would be a great lesson for that and also for bias with high school students. Beyond that, just learning about what is happening at Everest would probably elicit surprise and concern from environmentally conscious readers. I know it changed my views about Everest and made me wonder about recent exploits, including the Chinese ascent which smacks of a political statement at least as much as an Olympic feat.

At the same time I feel regret for Astronaut Scott Parazynski who clearly made an unselfish decision to turn back, and at the same time a wise decision. Another astronaut, Karl Henize, lost his life on the mountain.