about the book
Born premature, sickly most of his life, accident prone, and with a tendency to faint, Benji Wendell Barnsworth owns a personal punch card for the hospital because he is there so often. There are few good things in ten-year-old Benji’s life, even though he has a pretty funny and big personality.
After a particularly bad spell of fainting and unconsciousness, however, Benji’s doctor informs him that he has two choices: wear a padded helmet at all times to save his brain from damage; or get a therapy dog.
The choice is obvious, and soon the therapy dog arrives—a 200-pound Newfoundland therapy dog.
A blue, 200-pound-Newfoundland TALKING therapy dog named Parker Elvis Pembroke IV. Now a talking dog is every child’s dream, but does any child stop to think that, maybe, if a dog can talk, that dog can be a bit bossy? Maybe even annoying?
However, it isn’t long before Elvis helps Benji make some new friends!
about the author
Looking back on her life, Jenny Lee says it has mostly been about dogs. Her first was named Julie, and now Jenny has grown up and decided, like many people, that doggies should not have human names! Her parents told her that Julie went away and joined the circus. She was six. The truth might not have been good to tell her.
Several other dogs followed Julie—there was Scottie, named after Scott Air Force base where her dad was a surgeon; Oscar, a black Labrador who fetched all the newspapers on her street, not just their own; Dexter, who loved trash; Sasha, a German Shepherd she saved from the street while at boarding school.
After high school she spent ten years without a dog! It was sad. Then, when she needed some happiness in her life again, she got Wendell the Wheaten Terrier, and because of Wendell she wrote her first book: What Wendell Wants: How to Tell If You’re Obsessed With Your Dog.
Now Jenny has a giant black Newfoundland named Doozy, a sweetheart of a dog if ever there was one! Currently living in Los Angeles, she has worked as a writer and producer for several Disney Channel shows. Her newest favorite M&M is orange peanut butter.
Source:
Author website
Also by Jenny Lee:
Elvis and the Underdogs : Secrets, Secret Service, and Room Service. Balzer + Bray. 2014.
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