Orville: A Dog Story

by Haven Kimmel

A big, ugly dog is happy to meet a farmer and his wife who decide to give him a name and a home, but not so happy when they chain him to the barn. All Orville can do is bark to tell the world how... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 061815955X
• ISBN13: 9780618159550
• Release Date: September 2003
• Publisher: Clarion Books
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 10.8" x 6.8"
• Age Range: 4 to 7 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 2

Customer Reviews

A Wonderful, Wonderful Book

I am a big fan of Haven Kimmel's adult fiction, so I decided to buy this children's book. I LOVED Orville: A Dog Story. I loved it so much that I actually became choked up at the end and could barely read the last two sentences out loud to my son. This has never happened to me before. Like all of Haven Kimmel's books, this book flows as smoothly as silk. A homeless dog who has been taken in by various people and always chained up. His longing for love, yet anger at being chained up for days on end. His "adoption" by the farmer and his wife who do not understand him and chain him up too. Just when he starts to give up and lose hope, a girl moves across the road and he knows she needs him. I loved reading the dog's thoughts as he lay for hours on end at the end of a chain. I loved how he could tell how people were just by their smell; how he could tell what their wishes were. I loved how the farmer, his wife, Orville and the girl all got their wishes. How their lives became intertwined with one anothers because Orville came along. You must read it for yourself. This book is truly a gem for adults and children both. I loved it.

A perfect book

This book is such a gift -- to animal lovers, to children, to their parents, to book lovers. It tells a moving tale in exquisite prose, and the illustrations are perfect for the story -- they're beautiful and evocative without being overpowering. I can't recommend this book more highly, for both adults and children.For cat lovers (and others), Margaret Wild's "The Very Best of Friends" (illustrated by the wonderful Julie Vivas) is another powerful heartbreaker about human-human love and human-animal love.

Couldn't put it down

I work in a library and was looking at this book to catalog it. Usually I just look at a few pages of children's books, but I had to read this one from cover to cover. It really is exceptional, and my eyes were tearing up by the end. (Happy tears!) This would be great for any child (or adult) who loves dogs, has been concerned about a stray dog, or who is going through a lonely period.

simply marvelous

haven kimmel is an extraordinary author of sublime and rare gifts; now she turns her hand to children's fiction/ as a mother who reads, i humbly submit that Orville is superior to what else is out there. in many cases, young children's books simplify emotions and stay pristine, surreal or silly. this one shines : the impressionistic yet spare illustrations and the bright, funny, often surprising story unfolds like a desert flower. lovely and worth purchasing in bulk so that the next time your child attends a birthday party, you're ready with a gift to cherish and be read time and again.

The perfect story

Although I may not ever read this to an itty-bitty child, I sure would put it in the hands of anyone--young or old--who doesn't believe that things really can work out. This story is perfectly told in read-aloud language, with a beginning, middle, and a wonderful end. I am buying it for everyone I know who loves, or has loved, a dog; or who needs to believe that stuff happens for a reason. I also think that if you love this book, you should own A Girl Name Zippy. Truly.