The Triumphant Tales of Rescue Dogs – 4 Star Review

This is not just another book about a dog! Meet Punk, an eight-year-old petite English Bulldog. Her life appears great right now, but it wasn’t always that way.

Welcome to one of the September 6th stops on the blog tour for The Triumphant Tales of Rescue Dogs by Dr. Hope A. Walter, EdD with iRead Book Tours (tour schedule linked.) Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, author guest posts and interviews, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.

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About the Book

The Triumphant Tails of Rescue Dogs: Punk’s Plight
by Hope A. Walter, EdD

Published 3 August 2021
Mascot Books

Genre: Children’s Fiction
Page Count: 38
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This is not just another book about a dog! Meet Punk, an eight-year-old petite English Bulldog. Her life appears great right now, but it wasn’t always that way. Join Punk as she recounts her story of neglect, her rescue and recovery, and her journey of learning to trust and heal again. Punk’s Plight is meant to help educators, psychologists, social workers, counselors, and allies of children teach children about the difficult topic of neglect. Punk teaches that neglect may change you forever, but it does not have to stop you from living your best life.

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My Review

My Rating: 4 Stars
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I was granted complimentary access to this title as part of my participation in a blog tour with iRead Book Tours. Thank you to all involved in affording me this opportunity! My thoughts are my own and my review is honest.

The Triumphant Tails of Rescue Dogs: Punk’s Plight is the adorable, heartbreaking, and once again uplifting story of a bulldog named Punk. We go from a happy puppy in a great home to an ageing dog suffering from neglect when his home goes through hardships until he’s rescued by someone who gives him a second chance. This is a great story for kids about being kind, never giving up, doing what’s right for others, and the immense responsibility of pet ownership. Some kids in rocky home situations may relate to the dog while other may relate to his original family, but either way there are lessons to be gleaned from Punk’s journey and the kindness of the person who takes him in.

The illustrations are beautiful in a classical, dreamlike way. They remind me of older works like Charlotte’s Web. My only visual critique, and the reason this book isn’t getting 5 stars, is because the font choice and size are very hard to read plunked directly on top of the illustrations. I imagine it’s a little easier when you hold a print copy of this book, given the size kids books usually are, but I reviewed this digitally and I was squinting at the screen from a distance of about 6 inches to read it, and my vision is not that bad. I worry that this will make it difficult for kids to focus on the text, for anyone with reading disabilities to parse the text, and for the adult reading buddies who have poorer vision to see the text.

About the Author

Hope A. Walter, Ed. D grew up in East Greenville, Pennsylvania. After graduating from Upper Perkiomen High School, Hope received her B.S. in Elementary Education at Kutztown University in 1996, her M.S. in Educational Psychology in 2002 from the University of Las Vegas in Nevada, and her Ed.D in Educational Leadership in 2018. Currently, Hope resides in McMinnville, Oregon with her husband of 25 years, her 3 boys, and her 2 dogs and 2 cats. She works as an adjunct professor at Linfield University and Oregon State University teaching mathematics education and educational psychology to future teachers.

Punk’s Plight was conceptualized after teaching future teachers about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). Hope saw the connection between ACES and the journey of her own bulldog, Pumpkin, who was neglected, rescued, and spent the rest of her life learning how to trust and love again. Sadly, Pumpkin passed away peacefully in November 2020 after a long life with the Walter family. Hope wants Punk’s story to help children suffering from neglect by showing children they can recover, heal, and prosper despite experiencing neglect.

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