Review of “Turkey Ham Dog” by Lisa Giknis

Score: 94/100 (9.4 out of 10)

Turkey Ham Dog by Lisa Giknis is a heartwarming story that reflects the profound relationship between humans and their pets.

The narrative centers on Tabby, a rescued puggle, and details her journey from neglect to a life filled with love and purpose in the Adirondacks. The story highlights the duality of rescue: while humans save pets, pets, in turn, bring healing and comfort to their owners.

Anyone who has owned a dog or cat for any significant amount of time can relate to the fact that they become like your kids. They become like a part of the family.

Though we often think about how we take care of our pets (feeding, housing, cleaning them, etc.), we don't often stop to think about how our pets take care of us. There have been times when we've felt sad, mad, lonely, or anxious, then that familiar fluff of fur comes snuggling gently into our arms.

There's a reason why dogs are considered “man's best friend.” Like guardian angels, their presence is calming and their influence is disarming. They can bring a smile to your face or make you laugh at the drop of a hat. They can make you feel safe and secure even when the situation is dismal like at a time of loss or uncertainty.

Pets also tend to bring their own, unique personalities. That's sure to get a rise out of you!

Take Tabby, for example.

Tabby has inclinations just like human people do! Tabby LOVES food, ESPECIALLY ham and turkey (hence the name of this book)! She also loves to eat the jelly from the jelly jar, peanut butter, and the cinnamon buns off the table.

All in all, this is an adorable read for children that uses simple, short, rhythmic, and rhyming language. This is one of those books that you could easily fly through with your children before bedtime.

We wanted to say that the rhyming, while simple, is great for children. Children love rhymes and patterns. It's digestible and fun for them. It's also easy to read aloud as an adult (parent or teacher).

There is a small typo with “nicknames” being written as “knicknames.” However, it's not that big of a deal.

The characters—the heart and soul of this book—are adorable, and the illustrations are sufficiently cute. We were actually excited to see that previous Outstanding Creator Awards winner Amy Gerardi illustrated this book (alongside Mechelle Roskiewicz)! Amy Gerardi previously co-wrote and illustrated Please Grow Away, an awesome children's book about setting aside differences, compromising, and working together.

Gerardi has her own unique illustration style. With her illustrations, it often seems like some objects and characters are thoroughly colored while others (and the background) aren't. In Please Grow Away, this style served a storytelling and thematic purpose as the lemons, grapes, and overall appearance of the book became more colorful and bright as the story's cast of characters became more diverse and inclusive. In this book, the style seems to help Tabby stand out. For example, Tabby is distinctly and sharply brown. This is in contrast to her Shihtzu sibling, who is almost completely barren of color (as a white dog). The backgrounds are also quite sparse. But again, that may help the focus to stay on the characters, which is where the focus should be.

Something interesting about this book is that it really has two layers of reading: a shallow reading and a deeper reading.

The shallow and simple reading is that this is a book about a cute family pet doing cute family pet stuff. Young children will eat that up!

However, there's also a deeper reading that involves the context behind Tabby's close bond with the family and her Shihtzu sibling as well as why she eats/ate to the point of obesity.

See, a large subtext of this book is Tabby’s transformation from a neglected breeding dog (who is initially “thin” due to neglect and starvation) to a beloved family member. This symbolizes deeper themes like hope and second chances. While younger children, who are developing empathy, may pick up on that, it will likely be more pronounced and understandable for adults. In fact, this might be a really good teaching/learning opportunity for parents and teachers to discuss topics like empathy and compassion with children.

It may also be a good opportunity to teach children about the reciprocal nature of kindness and caring.

Anyway, going back to the deeper reading of the book... you can really tell that Tabby's voracious desire to eat a lot of food (and binge) may come from having been deprived of food in her early years (by her previous owner).

It's also inspirational to see Tabby turn her life, weight, and health around by the end of the book!

For anyone jumping on a diet and/or following a New Year's Resolution in early January, this is really relatable.

There's also an even deeper context to this story as we learn in the “Tabby rescued me” section that Tabby actually helped the family to find their lost and deceased pet, Snickers—seemingly having a supernatural sense and connection with Snickers. We also learn from the “About the Author” section that Lisa Giknis has bravely battled breast cancer since being diagnosed with it in 2005. Furthermore, she experienced the loss of her mother to breast cancer in 2003. Giknis's loving, loyal, adorable pets like Tabby and Snickers have made a huge difference, providing her with comfort, courage, and a reason to keep fighting and living.

With all of that in mind, this is an awesome children's book with a lot of heart and soul.

Check it out on Amazon!