I’m so pleased to be starting off lovely Patricia Furstenberg’s As Good As Gold blog tour today. Patricia was my first Staying in With… guest here and has been on the blog several times. Patricia wrote a super guest post for Linda’s Book Bag about the importance of reading that you will find here, and another about celebrating diversity in children’s fiction here. I was also privileged to review another of Patricia’s children’s books, Puppy: 12 Months of Rhymes and Smiles, here.

As Good As Gold is available for purchase on Amazon UK , Amazon US and Amazon Canada.

As Good As Gold

As engaging as a tail wag

Celebrating the simple things in life as seen through the eyes of our old time favourite furry friends, As Good as Gold is a volume of poetry revealing the talent and humour we always knew our dogs possessed.

Dogs are full of questions, yet they are famed sellers of innocence especially when it comes to explaining their mishaps and often foolish effervescence through ponderings such as “Why IS a Cat Not Like a Dog”, “As Brown as Chocolate”, “Silver Stars and Puppy Tail” or, best yet, “Dog or Book?”

A book with an enormous heart for readers of all ages, it includes 35 poems and haiku accompanied by expressive portraits of our canine friends.

My Review of As Good As Gold

I have a confession to make. I’m not much of a dog lover. I’m more a cat person so I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy As Good As Gold, celebrating dogs.

I needn’t have worried. I thoroughly enjoyed this charming collection of verse and as a result of reading it I think I understand dogs so much better. I did rather enjoy the poems with cats in them too though! One element that particularly appealed to me was the range of nature and animals included. This isn’t just a collection of poems about dogs, but affords an insight into other creatures and nature too. My favourite was the personification of the wind in One, Two Three. I loved all the Haiku as little gems of brilliance.

As well as being an enjoyable read, I think As Good As Gold has huge potential as a family or school collection. There’s a lot that can be learnt about rhythm and rhyme and language but, even better, there’s so many voices present in the poems that they would make great mini plays and performance pieces to be read aloud. I could easily envisage Yellow as a play for small children. There’s considerable fun to be had beyond just reading and enjoying the poems.

As well as fun and engaging poetry in As Good As Gold, there are some utterly heart melting photographs of dogs in this collection too so that I think the book would make a wonderful gift for all dog lovers regardless of age.

About Patricia Furstenberg

Patricia Furstenberg came to writing through reading. She always carries a notebook and a pen, although at times she jots down her ideas on the back of till slips or types them on her phone.

Patricia enjoys writing for children because she can take abstract, grown-up concepts and package them in humorous, child-friendly ideas while adding sensitivity and lots of love. What fuels her is an exhilarating need to write and… coffee:

“How many cups have you had this morning?”

“None.”

“Plus?”

“Five cups.”

Between her books you can find the beloved Joyful Trouble, The Cheetah and the Dog, Puppy, 12 Months of Rhymes and Smiles.

She is a Huffington Post contributor and pens the Sunday Column for MyPuppyclub.net as well as dabbing in freelancing. After completing her Medical Degree in Romania she moved to South Africa where she now lives with her husband, children and their dogs.

All of Patricia’s children’s books are available here.

You can follow Patricia Furstenberg on Twitter, find her on Facebook and visit her website. She’s also on Goodreads.

There’s more with these other bloggers too: