When a diligent school-teacher like Phil Stride of Lamma Island in Hong Kong hankers for a new book to promote learning, a foolproof strategy soon forms. He needs to buckle down and write it himself.
Phil enlisted co-author Jackie Leung and cartoonist Peter John Bolt to create The Crazy Adventures of Patch and Sam (2007, Sustainable Solutions, Hong Kong, 60 pages). This bilingual volume (English and Chinese) entertains children while educating them about animal-welfare issues and the need to care for pets, notably dogs.
“We wrote the book for the Animals Asia Foundation (AAF),” said Phil, who also likes to promote waste-recycling at urban housing estates. “It’s designed for students to increase their knowledge of responsible pet ownership.”
In the AAF’s Professor Paws programme, dog-owners take their pets to visit primary schools to show the merits of companion animals and to promote compassion for living creatures. “But I discovered that much of the AAF’s literature had really somber overtones, all about the abuse of animals,” Phil said. “It’d leave you depressed for days. Educating children needs an approach that’s more fun.”
So The Crazy Adventures of Patch and Sam has cartoons and a story that begins with three puppies placed in a suitcase, toted onto a ferry and later tossed into a clump of trees. As the text says, “This is a true story. It is a story of happiness, a story of sadness, a story of hope, a story of fear and a story of love.”
In reality, Patch and Sam are Phil’s own dogs whose early lives resembled those of the cartoon canines. Mike, the book’s leading human, looks a lot like Phil too.
The real Patch and Sam are regulars in the canine crowd that gathers to play at Lamma’s Power Station Beach, where a “scruffy dog” in the story invites Sam to frolic: “I’ll try and bite your ears and you try and bite my ears. What do you say?”
Surprisingly, the story has several bursts of poetry:
“So if you find yourself on Lamma
Look out for Patch and Sam
Because when you see how cute they are
You might just make a plan
To adopt a homeless puppy
Instead of from a shop
And the plight of homeless mongrels
Help to put a stop.”
Admittedly, Phil’s no rival to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, but that’s forgivable. Maybe so is the careless proofreading that weakens the book as a tool to teach English.
More significantly, The Crazy Adventures of Patch and Sam is an activity book with 24 pages devoted to quiz-like questions and an educational card game. A carefully perforated section tears apart into decks of Dog-Fact and Dog-Need Cards. The fact cards teach things like: “Dogs should never be kept in cages,” “A nice bone will clean your dog’s teeth,” and “Walking a dog keeps us fit and healthy.” The need cards highlight necessities like a friendly vet, clean water, dog food, loving hugs and regular walks.
The book delivers valid advice even to children without pets: “If an unfamiliar dog looks scary and is walking towards you, do not run. Stand very still and wait until the dog goes away.”
Echoes of Phil’s work-a-day role in classrooms never vanish, but that’s a minor flaw. Ultimately, his book represents a worthy contribution to a noble cause.
The Crazy Adventures of Patch and Sam may not go on sale at many bookstores. Much of the print run goes to the AAF for distribution at its events. But copies soon should be available at a future Website: www.crazyadventures.com.hk.
Approval rating: 82 per cent.
For more information on animal welfare, visit www.animalsasia.org.
(February 9, 2007)
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