Curiously Gracie - Life Begins, by R S Christopher

I'm a sucker for a dog book, especially a cute children's dog book. As such, I expected to thoroughly enjoy this story of Gracie. As it turned out, it left me disappointed. There is promise to the story but for me it just didn't seem to go anywhere and the ending was abrupt. The illustrations occasionally seemed to be made up of elements that didn't quite mesh or didn't seem to adequately illustrate what was happening. Nor did it show Gracie, said to be curious and a bit of a rebel in that she wasn't always following the lead of her siblings, romping around and having fun, not to mention her expression never seemed to change. Like people, dogs have very expressive faces, so this was a disappointment. 

As noted, there is promise to the story, however. The sub-title "Life Begins" made me think this is simply the intro to a series that will follow Gracie's life, curiosity and fun adventures in future books. Don't get me wrong. Gracie's image is adorable in the book, it just rarely seems to change. Westies are adorable little dogs and I'd love to see the mischief in her eyes to better reflect the adjective of curious that is applied to her. I'll also note here (the dog owner in me showing) that she's depicted in some pictures in a yard that appears to border a road. Hope to see a fence next go-round if my hunch is right about future stories. Bottom line, 3 stars for the concept but it could have used a bit more fine-tuning. Thanks to #IndependentlyPublished for allowing me this glimpse into Gracie's beginnings and potential. I'm definitely up for checking in on Gracie as her life goes on.