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Book Review of Lassie, A Dog's Life : The First Fifty Years

Lassie, A Dog's Life : The First Fifty Years
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This book was an unexpected treat. I am not even sure why I selected it to read, since I was never an over-the-top Lassie fan or anything; in fact, I am the wrong age for all that. But once I started in, the enthusiastic, joyful and very engaging story took hold, and I was enchanted.

The tales of Lassie's unexpected success in movies and TV flowed naturally and vividly. As a pup, Lassie (real name Pal) was feared untrainable? Wow. At his first screening of Lassie Come Home, famed movie mogul Louis B. Mayer wept openly? And thus poured into the movie everything MGM could give it? Wow! Actress Chloris Leachman, hired to play Lassie's second mom on TV, jealously hated the dog and envied all his close-ups? Wow! The writer's skill in telling these and many other interesting tales spanning nearly 50 years of Lassie's career, was near perfection. The pages turned so quickly, so eagerly. I was completely hooked.

***** Five stars! Kudos to author Ace Collins.