Lilys Best Clouds and Tales for Kids

Please try again later. Stop whatever it is you're doing and read this book. Since I started Lily and the Octopus, a few strange things have happened: You do not need to be a dog lover to appreciate this book. You just have to be, you know, not an insensitive a-hole.

And even if you are, this might be your weakness just don't read it in public. I highly recommend this to everyone. It will knock your socks off. A little over a year ago, I lost my sweet dog to cancer. Roxie was only 5 years when she passed away, having been diagnosed at age 4. That's way too young to lose a special member of your family. I still grieve for her and miss her every day. She was adopted at one year of age, so she was really only in my life for four short years.

During those years, though, she wormed her way into my home and heart.

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She acted as my protector the few couple of years and then, in turn, I acted as her protector for the last couple, watching her grow weaker and weaker, but still striving to be the strong dog she always was. Lily was the author's pup of 12 years; the Octopus was the cancerous tumor that grew on her head. If you've ever had a sick dog -- heck, if you've ever been lucky enough to have been loved by a dog -- this book is for you. It may not make you sob uncontrollably like it did for me, but it should create some semblance of "eye rain" the author's terminology , unless you have a heart like the Grinch's.

Reading the author's heartache was cathartic and made me remember Roxie fondly. I knew exactly what he was going through. The book is semi-autobiographical, but it's a work of fiction, nonetheless. It's told from the narrator's point of view a gay man , who also happens to have conversations with his dog, Lily, and then the Octopus as well. It sounds a bit strange, but it really works. Dogs are always good and full of selfless love. They are undiluted vessels of joy who never, ever deserve anything bad that happens to them.

Since the day I met you, you have done nothing but make my life better in every possible way. The book was very well-written and provided a quick read from chapter to chapter. Besides a tribute to a fantastic dog, the book is also about aging, the aging of our loved ones and ourselves, and coming to terms with both. I emphatically loved this book like Lily loved her red ball, and I hope you will, too.

Kindle Edition Verified Purchase. I loved it and I hated it. I hated that it brought out such raw emotions in me that I upset my own dog. I'm extremely sensitive to all things animal, whether it's a happy story or a sad story.

I had a hard time putting this book down. It was magical and beautiful and frightening and sad all at the same time. Since finishing the book, scenes and thoughts from it have frequently come back to me. In my mind, that's the sign of something really good. I had just finished reading "A Dog's Purpose," which is a marvelous, funny, sad, and insightful book into how a dog views the world, and how that makes them such wonderful companions.

The oft-used cliche that a "dog will give you unconditional love" is brought forward in a unique and marvelous manner in that book. So I thought this book might be at least somewhat similar - a good book, albeit sad - about a dog and her owner. I'm sorry, but I just can't agree with all of the marvelous reviews. That doesn't mean this is not a good book - it only means it didn't hit the mark for me. I found the dog's owner tedious, neurotic, and somewhat self-centered. His projecting a personality into Lily i. I'd highly recommend downloading a sample before buying and see if it's right for you.

Lily is a 12 year old dachshund, with a tumor on her head. Her owner, Ted, refuses to recognize the tumor and refers to it as an octopus instead. Clearly, denial is heavy throughout the book. Ted has fun and loving conversations with Lily, capturing her excitement and joy in everyday things.

He has angry, dark conversations with the octopus mostly telling him to be gone. The ending was heartbreaking. That in almost all respects, she is already gone. I challenge anyone to read this without crying. The beginning of this whimsical tale was wonderful! The relationship between Ted and Lily was precious and every response from Lily was received with joy, until the Octopus came.

Losing a LOVED one is hard, and some people cope by running away from their problems or by disguising the true issue. At first, I thought it was cute how Ted disguised Lily's issue; however, it got really old halfway through the novel. Death affects many people besides the person or creature who does, but it affects the dying person the most. I was irritated by Ted's behavior by the middle of the novel and found myself trying to tell him how to care for Lily.

Overall, Rowley does a wonderful job engaging the audience in Ted's endeavor s to cope with Lily's illness and inevitable demise. I feel that the novel would have been more enjoyable from Lily's perspective.

See all reviews. Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway. Lily and the Octopus. Set up a giveaway. Customers who viewed this item also viewed. That made Lily really sad. She was kind of sad all the time.

But she was very diligent. She made sure her flowers were in perfect shape. She did not want her poor lilies to die just because she was sad. Every night she wrote in her diary. There was nothing happy that she wrote in her diary — just sad things, and how to take care of her flowers.

One day she said to herself: I need to go meet some other flower fairies like me. She took a little satchel full of berries because she did not know how long the trip would take.

She put on her hat and her best dress because she wanted to look nice so she would impress the other fairies so they might want to be friends with her. She flew, ran, jumped and swung on vines through the garden. When she got tired of one way of travelling, she did the next. For instance, Lily ran for a while until she had to jump over a pile of sticks.

Then she swung on the pea vines, until she came to the frog pond that she had to fly over. While flying, she bumped into an acorn house like her own; except the house looked abandoned. There were cobwebs in the windows, the gardens were dead and overgrown, and the roof was caving in. Just then, she noticed a little baby flower fairy sitting on the doorstep of the run down acorn cottage. She was all alone! I better take you back to my house and give you some food. Then she noticed it was just a human girl picking flowers in the garden. Right then the girl noticed the acorn.

Suddenly, she picked up the acorn. When the baby was safely in her arms, she flew her back to her house. Lily lived in an acorn house similar to the one that she had found the baby in. There were lily petal curtains in each window, a garden filled with white and pink lilies and vegetables of every kind. A bouquet of lilies stuck out at the top of the acorn roof. There were some wild berry bushes growing right by the side of her house. Each morning Lily would go outside to pick berries and fresh vegetables for her breakfast.

Lily flew in with the baby and put her down on a hummingbird feather bed. After the long trip, the baby fell fast asleep.

While she was sleeping, Lily went outside to pick vegetables and berries to feed her new friend. She came in and put her gatherings on the little bark table. Next she got some wooden bowls out from the birch bark cupboard and filled the bowls with a wonderful salad of vegetables and berries. Just then she thought: I can tell that no one is here to take care of her.

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I will call her Little Lily! When the baby woke up, Lily gave her the salad. She ate it very hungrily. Lily took care of little Lily for the rest of her days. Finally, she could write happy things in her diary. She wrote things about her new little friend and their happy life together. They lived happily ever after in the little acorn house with the beautiful garden of lilies all around. Fiona writes to us:. My name is Fiona and I am a 9 years old homeschooler that loves stories about magical people. I live in Vermont and love to play outside, climb trees, play soccer, run, ski, and work in my flower garden.

Sometimes I even play Irish and traditional American fiddle music for the fairies in my garden. I also like to sew doll clothes while I listen to storynory. It's really fun to write stories! I saw how good Nisha Abby's story in the first competition, was and I was inspired to write one of my own. This is a wonderful story these competitions help kids like me get inspired to write and you are a very inspirational grupe of people could you please respond to my comment?

I might do amother. I hope you will write one? I love your story Fiona make more! I am not homeschooled but i love flowers fiona please write back to me and i live in syracuse,ny anyway im very ill bye! Me to I like school to I am sad to I am at a new school this year but it is amazing!!!!!!!!

I think you should keep wiring for storyboard not just for competitions but for real because you are really good. A sweet short story but simply spectacular all the same. I love stories to and I usually listen while doing homework. Or making a friendship bracelet. I Love the story?????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Hey, awesome story Fiona! I read the story in the entry… and something just something told me that this was gonna be one of the winning ones!

I have a story you should make this story to. Also when does it have to be in?

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Hello Liliana, Thanks for your interest. I have a suggestion to make plz put this story in the junior category its really for babies although its really good. Would love to see it published with illustrations!!! You are very good at it. Congratulations to you Fiona! You have so many talents!

Thank you for sharing. I love it love it love it! Very proud of you. We can look for fairies when you come to visit real soon! You totally deserved to be the winner! I loved your story and that it was about fairies too!! Are you the Kelly who wrote that awesome story about the horses? Bertie Jana Elizabeth come on next story!