The World According to Dog

Funny, comforting, surprising, the words in this book explore our lives with dogs: dogs who befriend us; dogs who annoy, perplex, and accept us. Teens speak for themselves in honest and forthright essays while Joyce Sidmans insightful poems further express the bond between dog and teen: how days of crowded hallways, pointless assignments, and blinding crushes are brought to balance by our dogs. For as Doug Mindells winning photographs confirm, at the end of the day, waiting at home, there is always Dog-full of hope and companionship.

Soon after Merlin became part of her family, Joyce Sidman began noticing his comforting effects. "This dog," she writes, "possessed of the sweetest of temperaments, became my constant companion. He was such a source of joy to me that before I knew it, I was writing a series of dog poems about the ways he exasperated, consoled, amused, and amazed me." She is the author of several other fine books of poetry and teaches in the Minneapolis schools as a writer-in-residence. She lives in Wayzata, Minnesota, with her husband and two teenage sons, on the edge of the country where she and Merlin walk every day Doug Mindell has worked as a professional photographer for more than twenty years for magazines, advertising agencies, and corporate clients. While working on this book, he says, his best test was to show prints of the dog pictures to various children in his neighborhood. He lives, with his wife and son, in Newton, Massachusetts, where he enjoys gardening and coaching Little League baseball