about the book
Etzel von Oeringen was born in Germany during the First World War; he was never allowed to play and was taught to be attentive, brave, and perfectly loyal. Etzel was a German Shepherd who became a military police dog. But after the war, he was sent to a New York pound.
Animal trainer Larry Trimble was also a Hollywood movie director, and his wife, Jane, wrote screenplays in the 1920s when silent movies were all the rage. Larry wanted to make a movie about a dog, so he and his wife went looking for their perfect new star. When they went to a pound, a big German Shepherd jumped right through a window protecting the place. The dog was Etzel—and he got the job. Larry and Jane renamed their new movie star Strongheart!
Before he could work on set, Strongheart had to learn how to play and how to relax. Larry did a good job training the intelligent pooch, and the new star won the hearts of movie goers all across America in his first movie, The Silent Call. Strongheart did his own risky stunts and caused audiences to cry with his spot-on emotional expressions. He went on to star in five more movies and was the first dog to portray White Fang.
Strongheart was the first Hollywood movie dog and led the way for Rin Tin Tin and Lassie. But his military training always stayed with him. One day, something bad happened. Did it end his career?
about the author/illustrator
Emily Arnold McCully was born in Galesberg, Illinois. Her mother taught her to read by the time she was four, which is also when she also started drawing. However, she had a hard time with writing and drawing, because she was left handed and tended to smudge her work badly.
When she was five, the family moved to Long Island, outside New York City. There she became a dare-devil tree-climber, a ball player, and a writer and illustrator of stories. She studied at Brown University and earned a master’s in art history from Columbia University. She wrote a musical comedy and acted in plays.
Working free lance, she did illustrations for advertisements and magazines. Her lucky break came when a radio station asked for a series of posters of children playing. The posters were displayed in subways, where a book editor spotted one. The editor tracked her down and Emily got her first commission to illustrate Sea Beach Express by George Panetta. She was off on a whole new career!
Emily is especially interested in drawing animals, stories about brave girls, and bringing history alive for young readers. She won a Caldecott Medal for her picture book, Mirette on the High Wire.
Emily divides her time between New York City and Chatham, New York, where she grows flowers and vegetables.
Sources:
Author/Illustrator website
Author/Illustrator biography: Amazon
Silent movie starring Strongheart
Also by Emily Arnold McCully:
Clara : The (Mostly) True Story of the Rhinoceros Who Dazzled Kings… Schwartz & Wade. June 2016.
Queen of the Diamond : The Lizzie Murphy Story. Farrar, Straus, Giroux (BYR). 2015.
Wonder Horse : The True Story of the World’s Smartest Horse. Henry Holt & Company (BYR). 2010.
The Secret Cave : Discovering Lascaux. Farrar, Straus, Grioux. 2010.
Marvelous Mattie : How Margaret E. Knight Became an Inventor. Farrar, Straus, Giroux. 2006.
Picnic. Harper Collins. 2003.
read more!
The Guardian Team : On the Job with Rena and Roo by Cat Urbigkit
Rena, the dog, is the runt of the litter. Roo is an orphaned wild burro. They are certainly an odd pair, but the two come together as best buddies to be the perfect guardians for orphaned lambs on a Wyoming sheep farm. Be warned, this book is full of warm-fuzzies!
Shep : Our Most Loyal Dog by Sneed B. Collard III
Shep was a famously loyal sheepdog. In 1936, after Shep’s owner passed away, Shep watched as the man’s body was shipped on a train east. For the next five years, Shep met every incoming train, watching for his master to return. People at the depot took notice of him, fed him, learned his story, and wrote about him in newspapers. When Shep died, hundreds of people came to his funeral.
Stay : The True Story of Ten Dogs by Michaela Muntean
Luciano has no home but the circus. A family of ten dogs has no home at all. When they meet, it is a partnership that seems to have been made in Heaven. Come and see the wild and wonderful Luciano Anastasini and his Pound Puppies perform!