Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Almost Perfect - Manning


Title: Almost Perfect


Author: Diane Daniels Manning
Published: Genre: Fiction
Rating:
3/5- Good. Read it, have a good time and move on. Or not.

Book Source: From author for honest review

 
Recommended if you like: Stories about animals, stories about ADHD/autism and children, stories with strong relationships



What Its About (publisher's)


Two unlikely friends, an old woman and a boy with special needs, take an aging champion to Westminster Dog Show, and heal their troubled families.

Seventy year-old Bess Rutledge has fantasized about winning the Westminster Dog Show all her life, but now she has decided she is too old to follow her dream. She meets Benny, an angry fourteen year-old with mild autism and ADHD, who has a dream of his own: to impress his self-absorbed mother. He becomes convinced that winning Westminster with McCreery, Bess’ aging champion standard poodle, will finally make his mother proud of him. Getting Bess to go along with his plan, however, is not going to be so easy.
 
Two unlikely friends, an old woman and a boy with special needs, take an aging champion to Westminster Dog Show, and heal their troubled families.

Seventy year-old Bess Rutledge has fantasized about winning the Westminster Dog Show all her life, but now she has decided she is too old to follow her dream. She meets Benny, an angry fourteen year-old with mild autism and ADHD, who has a dream of his own: to impress his self-absorbed mother. He becomes convinced that winning Westminster with McCreery, Bess’ aging champion standard poodle, will finally make his mother proud of him. Getting Bess to go along with his plan, however, is not going to be so easy. - See more at: http://www.cherrymischievous.com/#sthash.9I6KLTHp.dpuf
Two unlikely friends, an old woman and a boy with special needs, take an aging champion to Westminster Dog Show, and heal their troubled families.

Seventy year-old Bess Rutledge has fantasized about winning the Westminster Dog Show all her life, but now she has decided she is too old to follow her dream. She meets Benny, an angry fourteen year-old with mild autism and ADHD, who has a dream of his own: to impress his self-absorbed mother. He becomes convinced that winning Westminster with McCreery, Bess’ aging champion standard poodle, will finally make his mother proud of him. Getting Bess to go along with his plan, however, is not going to be so easy. - See more at: http://www.cherrymischievous.com/#sthash.9I6KLTHp.dpuf

The Bottom Line: 
I was inititally interested in this book because of the dog thing. I love stories about animals, espeially dogs.  But little did I know that the real treasure of the book was in fact the relationships. A finalist in the William Faulkner Creative Writing Competition, this book was very well written and well worth the read. The way the characters came to life makes it impossible to not feel connected and absorbed in their struggles.

Additionally, Manning clearly knows her stuff. So often, authors research a topic and write a book thinking they know "enough" about the subject to make due. Manning, who actually has a Ph.D. in Education and a post-doctoral M.P.H. from Harvard University, truly knows her stuff. She creates a realistic character living with autism/ADHD. This made the book more enjoyable for me (as an M.Ed).

Definitely worth the read! And, with its short chapters, its a pretty quick and easy read.


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