New Arrival: A BIRTH DAY FOR HANNAH

Hannah's new book, "A BIRTH DAY FOR HANNAH," is due for early release on October 1, 2016!
Hannah the Mountain Dog gives birth to 9 adorable Bernese puppies in this beautiful children's photo book with rhyming story. Follow the development and antics of the puppies until they are ready to bounce out into the world on their own.

Be the first in your backyard to own Hannah's new book, on PRESALE now for $15.99 (retail $17.99). Books will be sent on or before October 1st.

Purchase pre-sale books here: http://www.mountaindogbooks.com/store.html

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A Birth Day for Hannah is "another great book full of rambunctious puppies that leap and wiggle off the page, softly nudging the reader to buy another great Hannah story! I love it!"

--Nicole Magistro, The Bookworm of Edwards, CO

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Puppy Paradise

Hey I gave birth to a litter of nine puppies in July and thought I would be blogging about it every week, but being a new mom was totally exhausting and so I disappeared from cyberspace for awhile. You can see some videos of the puppy birth and the little darlings when they were tiny tots at http://www.mountaindogbooks.com/video.html.

Now that the puppies are all in good homes and I’ve had a vacation, I’m feeling a little more normal and can say it was a lot of fun having those little guys around! Four of the pups were born at home, but then I had to go to the vet to have the rest because one was stuck upside down – little (well, big) Dougie. I was a real good mom, too. I licked the puppies and kept them all clean and fed them for 4-5 weeks. Then they got sharp little teeth and learned to eat mush and that was a huge relief.

I had 5 boys and 4 girls and named them Dougie, Ziggy, Dot, Ava, Meyers, Lilly, Spock, Oliver, and Katybeth. There are lots of cute pictures of them at http://www.mountaindogbooks.com/puppyphotos.html. They were a hoot, those little rascals! At first they ‘swam’ around like fish because they couldn’t walk or see anything, but in only a couple of weeks they opened their eyes and started walking around, then soon they were running in all different directions. You can only imagine the chaos, I guarantee! They loved to play with each other and wrestle and nip at each other and then slept in a big dog pile until they got a little older. I was really happy they all went to live with great people, and guess what? We got to keep one!

Little Dot stayed to live with us. (She's the one looking like a clown in the picture). She was named that because she has a big spot on her tummy. And she has funny little dots here and there, just to back up her name. She's getting pretty big already, geez she was only born 5 months ago!  She’s a sassy little gal, but we like having her in the pack and she’s learning how to behave pretty well, although she chewed up Mom’s golf shoe last night.

Mom is going to write a new book about those puppies, which should come out in the spring. But in the meantime, you can still get the last two books and stuffed toys that look just like those puppies at http://www.mountaindogbooks.com/store.html - you know, if some young reader needs one for a holiday gift!

Peace, Motherhood, and Happy Holidays!
xo
Hannah

Oh Henry! And Hannah Stole a Sconi…

Mom’s shipping me off to the farm next week to meet Henry. I’m not sure what that means, but she says I’ll have fun playing with Henry and then maybe I’ll have puppies this summer. Mothers Day is coming up this weekend and so maybe some of you can lend words of advice. I don’t know much about any of this maternal urge stuff.

Mom went and bought me this silly outfit at Goodwill so that I could be a bride first with Henry. (Grandma taught her to do strange stuff like this when Mom was a kid.) But guess what, when Mom got this little ‘bridal’ outfit home she saw on the tag that it was really from Fredericks of Hollywood - yee hee! (She got a big laugh out of that.)

Maybe we’ll write a book about these puppies when they arrive. That would be a fun one, although Mom really hopes she doesn’t have to start explaining birds and bees to kids. I think I’ll be a good mom, but Lucy might get a little jealous of all this and so we’ll all have to be really nice to her this summer.

Grandma thought there should be a royal wedding with Henry the 9th. As long as it’s not the Henry the 8th I’m cool – that guy was a scoundral and lots of heads rolled ‘cause of him! I’m sensing I may really need a Pre-pup agreement…

Now this crazy great aunt of mine has sent me some booties and another lady wants to know what to wear to the royal wedding. My relatives are nuts!

We had a fun reading at Barnes and Noble on Colorado Blvd last month on a snowy day. The people from Reading Partners Colorado invited us. The lady at Barnes and Noble was super nice and said we could come back in the Fall again, because people liked us so much.

However, when Dad, the dog handler, was looking the other way and we were standing right next to a table of fabulous pastries, I finagled my way out of my harness and stole a scone and snarfed it down with Lucy. Everyone was a little startled, but it was over in an instant and we cleaned up all the crumbs…we are chow hounds after all! Will work for food!

We've also been reading at a bunch of schools this winter - the kids are all great and I love hanging out with them on snowy mornings. And Mom's going to the Bernese Mountain Dog Specialty Show which is in Loveland, CO this year to sign books on Friday May 17 & Sat May 18 (but I can't go 'cuz I'm going to be hanging out with Henry - tee hee).

Happy Mothers Day!
Love Hannah

Slip Sliding Away...

We're not "Working Class Dogs" for nut'in - Mom finally made us do a job. Lucy and I argued about it for awhile, but then we got the hang of the whole sled dog concept and toted the kids up and down the driveway on a sled until everyone was tired. It was a blast and the kiddos loved it the most. There was a lot of laughing going on, which makes us dogs wag our tails faster.

We're having a fabulous time with Beth, the amazing dog sitter, this week while Mom is hanging out with all those great kids in New England. She's been to Rye, Greenwich, New Canaan, Wilton, and Wayne PA. Those children are going crazy over our videos - oh yeah, and the books, too. Lucy and I like to watch those videos and bark at them and dance around doing beach blanket bingo moves like Annette Funicello. (Ok, I'll admit it - we like stardom on the silver screen, just as much as Lassie and Rin Tin Tin did I bet.)

"A Snow Day For Hannah" made it onto The Bookworm's top 100 books for 2012 - about 1/2 way down, below some cookbooks but above some national bestsellers - and so that was a fun thing that happened.

I missed wishing you a Happy New Year - so how about having a Happy MLK Day!

Love and lots of schussboom sled runs!
Hannah

Hannah Gets Her DAG Card

Dad says it’s official – I can get a DAG Card! (The Dog Actor’s Guild, silly…) Check out our new beach video. If you liked the Snow Day Video you won’t be able to wait to see our antics on the beach!

And check out these shenanigans at home. Mom set up a blue screen for me and everything. Boy did we have fun shooting this video. Dad was doubled over and mom cracking up so hard when she was editing that she wet her pants, just like Lucy does when someone fun comes to visit. She said I looked like Buck Rogers, whoever that is – some beach dude I guess. We haven’t heard them in hysterics like that for awhile. It got us all worked up to trying to figure out what was happening. But then I think they were laughing just because it was us and we’re connected to them. We’re nutty crazy for the beach and love makin’ waves. I hope the kids think the new video is funny, too.

Not only that – Mom had an interview with Hal on KRXA 540 last Friday before her book signing at Pilgrims Way bookstore in Carmel. If you’re super bored today you can listen to that, too.

The holidays are coming, so remember – you can buy “A Snow Day For Hannah” and “A Beach Day For Hannah” online or at your neighborhood bookstore. (If they don’t carry it, then if you ask for it maybe they will.)

A Special Event: Hannah and Lucy will be at the Sie Film Center on Colfax (formerly the Denver Film Center) on Sunday, Dec 16 at 11:00. Mom will do a reading, we'll watch the videos and then guess what? The kids get to watch The Polar Express and SANTA WILL BE THERE!!!

Mom is also going to do a reading at Gorsuch in Vail on December 21st from 2-6pm. They are selling her books like nobody’s business – on display as you walk in the door with the little Hannah dogs... (they are Berner lovers, you know!) Lucky me to be in such a fancy pants store.

Hang Ten…
Love Hannah

Hannah's Cranberry Caper

Too cool for school - check out our shades... we're super lucky dogs in Carmel, CA for the Thanksgiving holiday! A whole week of fun, sun, and running on the beach with all kinds of crazy canines. Mom's working on our new Beach Day video, too. Stay tuned for that!

Mom and Dad spent all morning cooking great smelling stuff for Thanksgiving weekend. Lucy and I lucked into a couple of pieces of stew meat sauteed in red wine and housin sauce by hanging out near the kitchen and pretending not to notice anything unusual. (They don't cook much, so it's totally out of character!) Dad's kinda learning how to cook and so he made pumpkin bread and cranberry bread for the first time ever. Boy did that work up the olfactories!

In the past us dogs have been highly obedient regarding fabulous food items on tables, but when Mom went off to buy the turkey and Dad went into the garage, that cranberry bread was too hard to resist. Lucy grabbed it right off the counter and started to scarf it down and I joined right in, too. We didn't leave one crumb - not one piece of evidence. It was a very clever clean sweep, if I do say so myself. And man was that good chow!

Mom was confused for a few minutes when she got home. She asked Dad if he had wrapped up the bread, but, tee hee, he hadn't. They looked at each other funny and then started giggling and scolding us. We feigned innocence, but I think they knew exactly what happened! (They aren't as dumb as we think they are.) I overheard Mom using bad words and discussing our 'digestive systems' keeping her up all night pooping cranberries. Then she figured out that Dad forgot to put sugar in the pumpkin bread. Dad said we could have that loaf, too. I think they're going to start all over tomorrow morning.

The good news is that we're doing a book signing on Saturday, Nov 24 at 11am at the Pilgrim's Way Bookstore in Carmel. The Beach Day for Hannah book is a hit here, because, of course, it was shot in Carmel. Mom got us these silly Christmas collars for the event. (What do you think?) Mom's also going to talk to a nice man named Hal on the Monterey Peninsula radio, KRXA - AM540 on Friday morning at 8am.

Last week Mom was in Chicago doing book readings at Joseph Sears and Willowbrook Elementary Schools and at the Book Stall Bookstore in Winnetka. She had fun but we couldn't go on the plane.

Anywho - hope you have a fabulous Thanksgiving. We're giving thanks to cranberry bread for sure!

Love & gobs of giblets & gravy!

Hannah

Grandma is Amazing!

So not only has my grandma, Judy Petrie, been top-dog sales person for my books, and maker of the cute little heart collars for my stuffed Hannah dogs, and mother to my mom, now she has outdone herself with a birthday present for mom. Check out these amazing needlepoint pillows! (I told her people are going to want to start buying these, too, but she says she’s not gonna do it.) Can you believe she made these? I can’t – first of all I could never hold a needle in my paw, plus I certainly wouldn’t have the patience to push it through a tiny hole in a canvas like that. But she sure did a terrific job of making me look grrrrrreat on canvas. Grandma is amazing!!

What grandma really liked was that we got a nice note from Doris Day. Ms. Day has a dog-friendly hotel called the Cypress Inn in Carmel, California, where my new book “A Beach Day For Hannah” was shot (in Carmel, not at the Cypress Inn!). So Mom left her a couple of books for being a dog lover and all. It’s a really cool hotel cuz dogs get to lounge in the chairs and on the couches - stuff we don’t even get to do at home. Grandma said Doris Day was her favorite star when she was growing up because she was a wholesome girl next door (like me) and sang great songs (unlike me). Ms. Day has done a lot of good work helping canines out over the years. She deserves a lot of credit from all her doggy pals.

I also got a nice note from a Governor named Hickenlooper… Hey, that rhythms with pooper scooper! He’s a terrific governor from Colorado, and I’m going to vote for him when I’m old enough. It’s been a hard summer for him with fires everywhere and crazy people doing bad things and I’ll bet he’s plum tuckered out right now!

Que sera sera!
Love Hannah

Alveridgea & the Legend of Lonely Dog

There’s a new classic book out called Alveridgea & the Legend of Lonely Dog. I hate to hear about any dog being lonely, but this dog’s tale has just arrived in America. It’s for kids a little bit older than me, maybe 8+ or so - kids that like books like ones about Mr. Harry Potter and his pals.

It’s a “beautifully illustrated and irresistible tale of the 'Lonely Dog' - an orphan hound growing up in Alveridgea, where cats and dogs live alongside each other, but on very different sides of the tracks. Set in the bizarre and beautiful port town of Alveridge, a fascinating place of unique clans and classes — where Felines struggle to maintain the upper hand. Bullied and misunderstood, Lonely Dog became a refugee in his own country. The story follows Lonely Dog from abandonment at the Houndside Orphanage steps through his emergence as a dapper, pin-stripe suited dog with a message of hope through his music.”

Here’s a full review by Christie Barnes, author of The Paranoid Parent's Guide. She writes, "New Zealand artist Ivan Clarke, with writer Stu Duvall, have created a world of total imagination: cat bosses oppress dogs in a complex society. Advanced issues of prejudice, discrimination, friendship, bullying, loyalty, betrayal play out in ways that will spark discussion in kids to older teens alike." Here's more about it!

There's even supposed to be a movie about it - so quick go out and read it first. I hope Lonely Dog doesn't stay lonely for long!

Love and high hopes,
Hannah

People Do Cool Stuff, Too

Sometimes people are so cool! This really nice lady named Patty Aarons and her friend Judy took their gorgeous Bernese Mountain Dogs to two book readings for kids in Michigan. They have dogs named Skye, Trina, Magnum (I bet he’s big), Abigail and Annie B. Two of them have special CGC Certification – that’s a Canine Good Citizen. (I’m not certified to do a darned thing!) Anyhow – They read my books at The Atlanta Public Library and The Lewiston Library Reading Garden in the great state of Michigan and even got a spread in the Montmorency County Tribune.

They’ll do another reading on Aug 9th at Gaylord, MI Library. Here are some pictures. Isn’t that just the nicest thing to do? I’ll tell ya – kids love us Berners!!
Patty said that Skye tried to sneak off with a stuffed me. (I like to play with - and shred - those cute little stuffed Hannah toys, too!) I'm not sure why mom thinks kids want these toys 'cause Berners sure like to play with little puppy dollies like themselves. But kids like to play with them, too.

Another creative teacher at Chapin School in New York read the book to her kids and then they did snow stuff they don’t normally get to do. For example, they did some sledding on wheels in the gym and then puffed up a parachute stuffed with cotton balls so all the kids got to be in a big snow globe! How much fun was that? I like to catch blowing bubbles, but cotton balls would be a riot!
Love and good cheer to cool people!
Hannah

Mom Goes to Gettysburg

May 2012...(we're a little behind right now) For scores and 7 weeks ago a whole bunch of Berners got together in Gettysburg, PA for the Bernese Mountain Dog Specialty Show. Mom said there were a ton of Berners there all dressed in their finest furs – fluffed and primped and gorgeous. They were talented, too - check out this boarder dude!

Mom was at the Gettysburg specialty show signing my books in Mary Dawn DeBriae’s booth. Mom says that she knew my book had gone international to places like Scotland, Germany, and Sydney already, but now it’s going home even further to Japan and Perth. (That may be as far away as it could go!) I hope the roo’s like it in Perth…

Mary Dawn has a shop in Telluride called Schaussi’s Alpen Schatz (http://www.alpenschatz.com/) that has all sorts of cool Swiss dog collars, yodeling outfits, specialty items from Germany and other Bernese kind of stuff – (Mary Dawn has Berners like me too!) She invited Mom to come to the Bernese Specialty Show with her and it’s been lots of fun.

But… Mom is here posing in the booth with an imposter! Her name is Sophie and I’m very jealous that I’m not there to be in the photo. Can you imagine? Grrrr…. Next year the show will be in Loveland, Colorado, and so Lucy and I can go with Mom and fend off these charlatan dogs!!

All week long Mom’s sister, Marnie, has been helping her drive around and peddle books at bookstores in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Mom says it’s been a fun adventure and it’s a beautiful area this time of year with all the blooming bushes. Marnie knows a guy who thinks we should have a ‘wet fur’ contest – you know, because we’re such sexy canines. (Could be a new entertainment trend!) But then he’s the same guy that gave my own sister Lucy the nickname of Lucifer, and so I’m not sure what to think about him!

"A Beach Day For Hannah" is Here!

Mom's been hauling boxes of books around all day. My new book, "A Beach Day For Hannah" finally arrived and it sure has lots of cute pictures of me playing on the beaches of Carmel - I bird watch, I swim, I build dog bone castles, and I do some surprising other things that you'll have to check out in your own copy of the book... I don't want to give away all of my various secret talents! Proceeds from this book will benefit Boys & Girls Clubs, too.

Mom's been working on this new book, reading to kids, looking for a good publisher, and taking care of me (and doing her day job). I had a few weeks time out for girl stuff, if you know what I mean. Mom and Dad needed a time out, too, so they took a fun trip to France and saw lots of artwork and goofed off while Lucy and I lazed around the house. They said it was nice not to be woken up by dogs in the morning for over a week. Hey, a dog's gotta do what a dog's gotta do when the dog needs to doo... and we's gots to eats, too!

Mom and Dad are going to peddle books at the Furry Scurry in Washington Park/Denver on Saturday. Then Mom is going to head out to Gettysburg, PA next week 'cuz there's a Bernese Mountain Dog Specialty show and she thinks lots of folks there might want to look at fab pictures of me and take home a book and a cutesy stuffed replica of yours truly. You oughta go see her standing out there if you can! She might need some moral support, if you know what I mean...

Hey, by the way, I got a decent review on my Snow Day Book by Kirkus Reviews - the toughest reviewers around. They said, "With a cute hero and gorgeous vistas depicted in clear, bright photos, young readers will happily curl up on a parent's lap to see Hannah's antics." They said some other stuff, too, but that was the bottom line.

Love and Fun on the Beach,
Hannah

Hannah’s North Shore Adventure

Mom said that she had a blast last week on the North Shore of Chicago. She read “A Snow Day For Hannah” to all kinds of kids in a gazillion places including The Kenilworth Club, Willowbrook Elementary, Joseph Sears School (her Alma Mater), Crow Island Elementary, and then at The Book Stall bookstore in Winnetka.

She said reading to the kids was tons and tons of fun and that they really, really liked seeing the

YouTube video of Lucy and I wrestling in the snow to that funny music. I guess they laughed at us a lot. We are kinda funny that way! We play really hard.

I couldn’t come with Mom to Illinois in real life like I usually do, being that she had to go on a plane and all to get there. She had a fakey substitute Hannah toy that makes me a little jealous. It doesn’t smell like a dog and it won’t wrestle with me, but I guess it’s pretty cute if I confess my true feelings. (Actually I’d love to tear it apart, but she won’t let me.)

I’m a little upset that I missed so much fun! She’s still talking about it, using a strange word I haven’t heard, “buzz.” Sounds like a busy bee to me. She hopes the Boys & Girls Clubs will make a little more money from those Chicagoland book sales.

She said I even got into some newspapers, and that’s the kinda stuff I really love. Little dogs like me need to be seen - and petted all the time, too. Big humans like to read newspapers. (I love to shred them up and use them for other naughty things.)

The little humans seem to like reading picture books with cute dogs (AKA ME) in them, and they really love to snuggle with the cutesy phony Hannahs while they read my book.

Mom said it snowed really, really, cool, huge, soft snowflakes one day while she was in Illinois – just in time to read the snow book. One kid was super creative and made a snowman like I did with dog biscuit eyes and nose! Maybe I’ve started a new trend in snowman fashions!!

Speaking of Hannahs, Mom went to visit the real first Hannah that I was named after. She’s a nice lady with a cool husband that Mom’s known since she was a kid. That man named my Mom “Peach” when she was a little tyke and she’s had that nickname ever since. Everybody, almost, calls her that now – at least the people she really likes.

Okay – Mom says I’m going on too long today, but it was a big week. Quality Books wants to help her sell to Libraries and we got a decent Kirkus Review. She even sent “A Beach Day For Hannah” to the printer and it’s supposed to come out May 1st. Just imagine all the things I can do at the beach with all of my unusual talents!! You’ll have to wait and see…

Love coming from the Chi-town area!

Hannah