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A review by nonprofitkate
Amazing Gracie: A Dog's Tale by Mark Beckloff, Dan Dye
5.0
An impossibly cute tale about a tail that jump started the famed Three Dog Bakery. Author and owner of Three Dog Bakery Dan Dye recounts the story of Great Dane Gracie and how she found him and he found his calling.
Small (at first) and ungraceful (always), Gracie enters Dan's life during a period of discord. Out of college, working a job he hates, Dan doesn't know what to do or where to go in life. Cue Gracie, a ridiculously cute, all white, blue-eyed, deaf, runt of the litter Great Dane. Gracie turns Dan's life upside-down. As she begins to grow from awkward puppy into full-blown Dane, Gracie curiously stops gaining weight. Finally, Gracie refuses to eat at all. Dan is beside himself and does the only thing he doesn't know how to do – he cooks for her.
Low and behold, Gracie eats. Not only does she eat, she adores Dan's cooking. As he tries new and more exotic recipes, Gracie carefully approves each one until Dan has a small cookbook of doggie approved snacks. With that, Three Dog Bakery was born.
The book, complete with adorable cartoons of implausibly hilarious situations described by Dan, is a heartwarming story. We follow Dan as he adopts Gracie, disastrously learns to cook, and finally creates a tangible business from a dream and a bone shaped cookie cutter.
We also watch Gracie go from being an unwanted puppy to a muse with a gentle spirit, and finally a guiding presence after she is gone. While I laughed way more than I cried, oh how did I cry when Dan had to make the decision that every pet owner dreads. I had grown to know and love this amazing dog over those 200-odd pages. When her time came, I felt as if I lost a dear pet, too.
This book is a must read for any animal lover. Here, the underdog does win – and she takes her owner with her. Three Dog Bakery is still going strong. Even though there are three new dog's at the bakery's meet and greets, Gracie is never far from Dan's mind. She is never far from my mind after reading her story. I will never forget amazing Gracie; the enormous, deaf, gentle, blue-eyed, white Great Dane smiling in her tutu as she welcomes visitors to her bakery.
She was a truly amazing dog and this is an incredibly inspiring story.
Small (at first) and ungraceful (always), Gracie enters Dan's life during a period of discord. Out of college, working a job he hates, Dan doesn't know what to do or where to go in life. Cue Gracie, a ridiculously cute, all white, blue-eyed, deaf, runt of the litter Great Dane. Gracie turns Dan's life upside-down. As she begins to grow from awkward puppy into full-blown Dane, Gracie curiously stops gaining weight. Finally, Gracie refuses to eat at all. Dan is beside himself and does the only thing he doesn't know how to do – he cooks for her.
Low and behold, Gracie eats. Not only does she eat, she adores Dan's cooking. As he tries new and more exotic recipes, Gracie carefully approves each one until Dan has a small cookbook of doggie approved snacks. With that, Three Dog Bakery was born.
The book, complete with adorable cartoons of implausibly hilarious situations described by Dan, is a heartwarming story. We follow Dan as he adopts Gracie, disastrously learns to cook, and finally creates a tangible business from a dream and a bone shaped cookie cutter.
We also watch Gracie go from being an unwanted puppy to a muse with a gentle spirit, and finally a guiding presence after she is gone. While I laughed way more than I cried, oh how did I cry when Dan had to make the decision that every pet owner dreads. I had grown to know and love this amazing dog over those 200-odd pages. When her time came, I felt as if I lost a dear pet, too.
This book is a must read for any animal lover. Here, the underdog does win – and she takes her owner with her. Three Dog Bakery is still going strong. Even though there are three new dog's at the bakery's meet and greets, Gracie is never far from Dan's mind. She is never far from my mind after reading her story. I will never forget amazing Gracie; the enormous, deaf, gentle, blue-eyed, white Great Dane smiling in her tutu as she welcomes visitors to her bakery.
She was a truly amazing dog and this is an incredibly inspiring story.