As the sixth anniversary of hurricane Katrina approaches, Jane Paley (and her dog Hooper) explains the horror, loss and recovery to young children in a new book Hooper Finds a Family, A Hurricane Katrina Dog’s Survival Tale, (HarperCollins Publishers, June 2011).

Emmy Award winner and author Paley tells how her lovable yellow Lab named Hooper was abandoned and rescued from the horrors of Katrina. The book is “written” by Hooper and tells about his transition from living in the Bayou, surviving Katrina and moving to New York City.

Some of the proceeds from the book will go to Labs4rescue, an organization that matches stray dogs with new families. While the book is fiction, much of it is true. It’s a perfect gift for a parent or grandparent to give to a child.

After being abandoned by his owners rushing to leave New Orleans, Hopper survived the worst storm in US history on August 29, 2005, and after several days alone was rescued by an animal lover. Within weeks, Hooper was brought to New York by his real life mom, Paley, to begin a new life where he ultimately has found a new, different and wonderful life.

“When I first had the idea to write Hooper Finds a Family, a friend of a friend insisted it would never work. The children’s book was a terrific idea, but it needed to be narrated in my dog’s voice! I thought the idea had merit and gave it a try,” says Paley.

“The writing and Hooper narration came easily. I was ‘hearing’ my dog’s voice. (If you have a pet -and you are a little crazy – you know perfectly well that they speak to you. They give you looks that you can caption in a second). For example, I can easily tell the difference between, ‘It would be swell to go out for a walk about now’ and ‘If we don’t leave soon, I’ll pee on your rug.’”

“It wasn’t the voice that was hard; it was the plot. My editor recommended action. And lots of it. Who was the dog going to talk to? The dog was going to be on the move, trying to survive the ravages of hurricane Katrina. The end result is a kids’ book about how one puppy, thanks to courage and character, lived through the worst hurricane in US history and made his way in the world to find a new and happy life.”

“My hope is that I can help kids overcome obstacles and become stronger and more confident adults. Dogs can be good teachers if you listen to what they have to say. “

Hooper Finds A Family is written for children ages 8-12 (grades 3-7) and available June 28^th, in advance of the sixth anniversary of hurricane Katrina on August 29th.

Paley adopted Hooper through Labs4rescue. Today, Paley brings Hooper, a certified therapy dog, to visit patients in hospitals, nursing homes, hospices and physical therapy centers, to bring joy and comfort to those in need. Hooper is also involved in the reading for buddies program which matches dogs with young children learning to read.

Paley was the director of community relations for ABC Television, and her ABC Notebook educational programs were awarded an Emmy and a National Education Association Award. As a partner in Paley-Price Productions, she wrote and produced numerous family-oriented programs for HBO (she was co-creator of two HBO Family network children’s series), PBS, and Lucasfilm, among others. Paley is also an assistant professor in the Division of Mass Communication at St. John’s University in Queens, New York.

Detailed information is at www.janepaley.com

Purchase: Hooper Finds a Family: A Hurricane Katrina Dog’s Survival Tale

Chic Galleria Editor’s note: Having been personally associated with LabRescue for years, I found this book extremely heart-warming.  With the wake of all the recent weather tragedies, there are so many homeless dogs.  Animal rescue organizations help save and relocate thousands of lost and abandoned pets, farm animals and other wildlife.  In this book, Hooper tells his own story of survival making it a great read for children and adults.

Tags: beth anderson, book review