Publishers Weekly
Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist Barry (Big Trouble) spins a nostalgic tale about a boy and his dog on Christmas Eve, 1960. Junior high schooler Doug Barnes is playing a shepherd in the Christmas pageant at the bat-infested Episcopal Church. When the Barnes family dog dies on Christmas Eve, Doug and his father end up adopting a shelter dog, Walter, a charmer who manages to wreck the pageant. Accompanying Barry's snappy narrative are photos and goofy advertisements from the period. Barry is a crowd pleaser and doesn't disappoint with this tale. (Nov.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Denver Post
Striking just the right balance between sentiment and insouciance, this slender, hip Christmas story recounts a semi-autobiographical story.
Library Journal
Humorist Barry (Boogers Are My Beat) spins a short and cute yarn, Jean Shepherd style. The year is 1960, and the narrator is Doug, junior high prankster extraordinaire. When the beloved family dog dies on Christmas Eve, Doug and Dad head to the local shelter to drop off the corpse. Turns out the shelter doesn't take dead dogs but will happily provide them with a new one, who comes along to the Christmas pageant. Disaster, of course, is the result. Fun for the entire family; for all fiction collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 7/06.] Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
A nostalgic Christmas fable strikes an engaging balance between humor and heart. With his penchant for booger jokes and infatuation with 1960s rock-'n'-roll, the Pulitzer Prize-winning former columnist and prolific author (Dave Barry's Money Secrets, 2006, etc.) has proven inordinately successful at channeling his inner 13-year-old. This short, easily digestible, first-person reminiscence invites the reader to identify its fictional narrator, a junior-high student, with the author. Not only do they share the same initials, but Doug Barnes lives in the place and era of Barry's adolescence-Asquont, N.Y., 1960. Christmas in this commuter town 30 miles north of New York City has some amusing traditions, including a "Manger War," in which Catholic and Protestant kids play pranks involving each other's displays, and a Christmas Eve pageant that suffers a series of calamities. After the previous year's mishap, in which the vase intended as a gift for baby Jesus shattered and he was instead presented with a Rolodex, Doug finds himself demoted from Wise Man to shepherd. Which wouldn't have been so bad, since it's fun carrying a staff, if this year Judy Flanders hadn't been selected to play Mary. Judy is the girl of Doug's dreams, one of the most popular, and nicest, girls in school, and one of the few who'll both talk to and dance with Doug. (This doesn't make him special; she's like that with everyone.) Pivotal plot developments include the accumulation of bat poop in the belfry of Doug's church and the Christmas Eve death of the Barnes family's beloved dog (who was older than Doug) and their unexpected adoption of a new one. Walter the Christmas miracle dog becomes Doug's guardian angel, Dougbecomes Judy's hero and the holiday ends happily for everyone. Dickens needn't fear the competition, but a Very Barry Christmas should prove a holiday favorite for years to come.
From the Publisher
Praise for The Shepherd, the Angel, and Walter the Christmas Miracle Dog
“Striking just the right balance between sentiment and insouciance, this slender, hip Christmas story recounts a semi-autobiographical story.”—The Denver Post
“Should prove a holiday favorite for years to come!”—Kirkus Reviews
“Hilarious.”—USA Today
“Nostalgic...Barry is a crowd pleaser and doesn’t disappoint with this tale.”—Publishers Weekly
APR/MAY 07 - AudioFile
What do you tell your little sister when her dog dies on Christmas Eve? In the Christmas extravaganza, is it better to be a shepherd or a “Three King”? What do you do when a ton of bat poop breaks through the floor of the church belfry and drops on your sweetheart? This child’s first-person account of a Christmas pageant gone awry reminds one of Jean Shepherd’s classic A CHRISTMAS STORY. However, Barry’s reading is flat and a bit rushed. He steps on his jokes. Yet the risible situations—as when the hero’s dad disguises the dog’s corpse as part of a crèche—manage to shine through. Y.R. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine
