Product Description

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 unhappy he is, and the more he barks, the more he is left alone. But everything changes when Sally MacIntosh moves into the little house across the road and Orville falls in love. A beautifully crafted text that blends wry humor with the poignant twang of a country-and-western song is accompanied by dreamy, spare watercolor-and-ink illustrations for a fresh, original picture book that will resonate with anyone who has ever felt lonely or misunderstood.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #461061 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 32 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 2-5-Orville, an ugly, homeless dog that has just about given up on life, is discovered one morning by a farmer and his wife who decide he will make a good watchdog. After they clean him up, they realize he is bigger and wilder than they thought, so he is chained to the barn and left alone to keep the rats away. He barks to let the world know just how miserable he feels, but the more he barks, the more the farmer stays away. Just when it is decided that Orville must go to the pound, a young woman who works nights in a factory moves into the small house across the road, and Orville falls in love. After watching Sally's comings and goings, he devises a plan, struggles free of his chain, and quietly enters her house while she is sleeping. Finally gaining acceptance, Orville moves in with Sally and finds the perfect home. Poignant and sweet, the narrative reads like a country-and-western song about sorrow and loneliness: "-he would wonder what had ever become of his mother, or the brother he had loved the best. And then it would be time to start barking." Parker's signature watercolor-and-ink illustrations are sketchy and imprecise. He takes liberties with the size and shape of Orville as well as with Sally's living room. The effect is more impressionistic than realistic, but allows the text to shine. Readers who have ever loved a homely pet or felt the pain of being misunderstood will identify with Orville.
Wendy Woodfill, Hennepin County Library, Minnetonka, MN
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
K-Gr. 3. Kimmel, who wrote the adult memoir A Girl Named Zippy (2001), and Parker, who illustrated the Sibert Honor Book Action Jackson (2002), tell a tender story of a stray dog who finds a home in a small farm community and helps those who care for him to break through their loneliness. The text is much longer than in most picture books, but the words are quiet and immediate, and they work beautifully with the relaxed, eloquent watercolor-and-ink pictures that are always true to the viewpoint of the ugly, unwanted mutt. The farmer gives Orville rough shelter, but insists that the dog is too big and wild to run free, and chains him to the barn. After Orville sees a desperate young woman move in across the road, he breaks his chain to lie near her bed as she sleeps, and he is nearly sent to the pound. Of course, there's a happy ending, but everything is understated, and children will recognize the sadness and anger as well as the yearning and the powerful bond. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"Parker's distinguished watercolor paintings...blend so perfectly with Kimmel's spare, unsentimental language that words and pictures become a veritable poem." BOSTON GLOBE -- Review

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.

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.

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.