www.TheNewBarker.com 50 THE NEW BARKER OUR FAVORITE PICKS FOR BOOKS, MOVIES & MUSIC, WHERE DOGS ARE ALWAYS THE STARS. Books on this page, reviewed by Anna Cooke. books, movies, music & more... William Wegman and his Weimaraners have been entertaining dog lovers for nearly four decades. In William Wegman: Being Human, photogra- phy curator William A. Ewing presents more than 300 images from the artist’s personal archive, unearthing previously unseen gems alongside iconic images. Presented in six- teen thematic chapters, the book showcases the photogra- pher’s penchant for play and his ability to create images that are at once funny, strik- ing and surreal. William Wegman: Being Human, published by Chronicle Books 2017. Rescue Road, by journalist Peter Zheutlin, is an extraordinary story of one man who has driven more than one million miles to rescue thousands of dogs. Greg Mahle runs an organi- zation called Rescue Road Trips. He drives a big rig, retrofitted with kennels, across country to pick up dogs from rescue groups and delivers them to wait- ing fosters or forever homes in the Northeast. It began when Greg received a phone call from his sister Cathy, founder of Labs4Rescue. A volunteer was driving a handful of dogs from the South to Connecticut. She was on the interstate, close to where Greg lived in Ohio, and she needed help with the rest of the trip. “It was awful,” Greg said.There was just one woman with a bunch of dogs in a minivan and it smelled terrible.” The year was 2005 and the trend of transporting dogs from the South to the North was just beginning. It would soon become a phenomenon as the Internet expanded Americans’ minds of the canine overpopulation problem in the South. Published by Sourcebooks. While reading this book, I was reminded of the many people who give so much of themselves to help others. Stephen Kuusisto, the author of Have Dog Will Travel, was born legally blind. He was raised in the 1950s and taught by his mother to deny his blindness.As an adult, he coped with his limited vision by becoming a professor in a small college town.A series of unfortu- nate incidences, including losing his job, led him to the realization that perhaps it was time to face reality.At thirty-eight, Stephen was, for the first time ever, paired with a service dog.This is a spiri- tual journey, written beautifully by a man who faced his lifelong struggles and subsequent tri- umphs, as a result of the dog, Corky, who would change his life. Many of the stories in Unstoppable have tragic beginnings. But every uplifting story shows how resilient physically challenged animals can be. Our two favorites: the story of Brutus, a quadru- ple-amputee Rottweiler.The other one involves Florida’s own Ronnie Graves, an amputee himself, who crafts custom orthotics and prosthetics for animals. Written by Nancy Furstinger, who is the author of more than 100 books. Published by: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. How Far Would You Go To Save A Dog’s Life? Plato said, “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.” “Canine empathy doesn’t require scales like those held aloft by the goddess of justice. A dog’s life is composed minutely of balanced curiosities.” From Have Dog Will Travel by Stephen Kuusisto Published by Simon & Schuster A Poet’s Journey. Y