Crazy for Critters

More Good News for Lava Fans

If you're a regular blog reader, you know I'm a big fan of the book From Baghdad With Love: A Marine, the War, and a Dog Named Lava, by now-retired Marine Lt. Col. Jay Kopelman and writer Melinda Roth. I reviewed it over the summer and have been in intermittent e-mail contact with Kopelman since. The book is about his superhuman efforts to spirit a little Iraqi puppy back to the U.S., an escapade that involved lots of people willing to take incredible risks, given that doing so was a clear violation of military policy (not to mention the danger).

Kopelman gave me a heads-up the other day that he's a Border's Original Voices finalist in nonfiction writing. Winners in five arts categories get $5,000. That's a lotta kibble!

Click here to read about the competition. But more important, click here to read about Lava (and see his adorable little puppy face on the book cover). He's all grown up now and living happily in San Diego with Kopelman, his new wife, her son and dog. To see a really cool video about Lava on YouTube, click here. 

Lava on YouTube

Over the summer, I reviewed the book From Baghdad With Love: A Marine, the War, and a Dog Named Lava (Lyons Press, $22.95), by Lt. Col. Jay Kopelman with Melinda Roth. It published in October and has become a well-deserved hit. It's the story of a Marine's determination to smuggle a little puppy out of Iraq back to California, and the courage of so many people - Iraquis, as well as American soldiers and reporters - who helped. You can read the review, posted July 28, by clicking on the archives link, "prior to October 2006."

Then go to YouTube to see a video of Lava living his new life in San Diego, and an interview with Kopelman. Click here.

Dogs: Read All About 'Em

I've got about two dozen dog books on my desk at the moment (in addition to at least that many on the shelves at home). It seems as if a new one publishes every week, and heads straight for the best-seller list.

National Public Radio recently asked a librarian to recommend dog books, and I was thrilled to see on her list my favorite of all time: John Steinbeck's Travels With Charley. Steinbeck and his canine companion Charley, a standard poodle, travel the country in a camper, taking the pulse of America, circa 1960.

Click here to go to the NPR site, where you can hear/read the story then link to past NPR dog-related pieces.