Stories told by cats and dogs

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to see the world through the eyes of your pets? Here are a few of the books the library has to offer that are told from the point of view of cats or dogs.

Dog on it
by Spencer Quinn

Dog on it is the first of the Chet and Bernie mystery series. Chet, the canine narrator, lives and works with Bernie Little, a struggling private investigator. Together they make up the Little Detective Agency.

From the Book Description
Bernie is relieved when the missing teenage girl he’s searching for turns up unharmed. But after she quickly disappears again, Bernie and Chet resume their investigation. Since there’s no ransom demand, kidnapping seems like a questionable motive. Yet the girl had recently gotten involved with some nefarious types and as Bernie and Chet make their way through biker bars and other colorful destinations, they smell something foul.

Told from Chet’s unique perspective, Dog on It is a humorous whodunit perfectly seasoned with a loveable dog’s view of everything.

There are currently eight books in this mystery series, the newest being Scents and sensibility which was released last month.

Cat bearing gifts
by Shirley Rousseau Murphy.

This series is a little different than the previous one. Joe Grey, a tomcat, and a few of his feline friends actually have the ability to speak. Only a select few humans know their secret.

From the Book Description
On the way home from visiting their friend Kate Osborne, tortoiseshell Kit and her elderly housemates, Lucinda and Pedric Greenlaw, are hurt in a terrible car crash. The accident is terrifying enough, but then two dangerous men steal the Greenlaws’ Town Car, making off with a secret hoard of jewels and gold—a gift bestowed from Kate’s newfound treasure. A badly shaken Kit hides from hungry coyotes in the forested hills above the highway, waiting for Joe, Pan, and their human companions, Ryan and Clyde Damen, to rescue her.

Cat bearing gifts is the newest in the Joe Grey Mystery Series. This fantasy mystery series began twenty years ago and is now eighteen books strong.

Promise of the wolves
by Dorothy Hearst.

Prehistoric wolves were the ancestors of our canine companions. This story, set 14,000 years ago, is told from the wolves’ viewpoint.

From the Book Description
What is the promise of the wolf? Never consort with humans. Never kill a human unprovoked. Never allow a mixed-blood wolf to live.

At least that’s what the wolves of the Wide Valley believe. Until a young wolf dares to break the rules—and forever alters the relationship between wolves and the humans who share their world.

This is the story of such a wolf. Born of a forbidden mixed-blood litter and an outcast after her mother is banished, Kaala is determined to earn a place in the Swift River pack. But her world is turned upside down when she saves a human girl from drowning.

Mort(e)
by Robert Repino.

Rebert Repino puts a modern postapocalyptic slant on our theme of stories told by cats and dogs.

From the Book Description
The “war with no name” has begun; its goal, human extinction. The instigator of this war is the Colony, a race of intelligent ants who, for thousands of years, have been silently building an army that will forever eradicate the destructive, oppressive humans….The final step in the Colony’s war effort is the transformation of surface animals into high-functioning two-legged beings who will rise up and kill their masters.

Former house cat turned war hero Mort(e) is famous for taking on the most dangerous missions and fighting the dreaded human bioweapon EMSAH. But the true motivation behind Mort(e)’s recklessness is his ongoing search for a pre-transformation friend–a dog named Sheba. When he receives a mysterious message from the dwindling human resistance claiming Sheba is alive, he begins a journey that will take him from the remaining human strongholds to the heart of the Colony, where he will discover the source of EMSAH and learn the ultimate fate of all earth’s creatures.

Love saves the day
by Gwen Cooper.

Poignant and heartwarming, this last book is a definite change of pace from the previous book.

From the Book Description
When five-week-old Prudence meets a woman named Sarah in a deserted construction site on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, she knows she’s found the human she was meant to adopt. For three years their lives are filled with laughter, tuna, catnaps, music, and the unchanging routines Prudence craves. Then one day Sarah doesn’t come home. From Prudence’s perch on the windowsill she sees Laura, the daughter who hardly ever comes to visit Sarah, arrive with her new husband. They’re carrying boxes. Before they even get to the front door, Prudence realizes that her life has changed forever.

Visit us at the library and see the full display of books from the Feline and Canine perspective that the library has to offer.