Moe the dog and his friend Arlene are tired of the horrible winter weather. They try to get relief at the movies, but the movie is about winter and snow. They try to take a vacation, but they are too expensive. While, sitting at home, Moe decides if he cannot go to the beach he will make the beach come to him. He creates a beach inside his house and he Arlene finally get the break from the snow they wanted. This book was pretty average. While is had a cute story line and nice illustration, there was not anything that made it outstanding. I enjoyed the story, but I do not feel like it is a book that I will want to read again. ( )

These friends find a creative way to bring the beach to their cold weather. I would read this to elementary students to encourage friendship and imagination. ( )

The story is about a dog named Moe. He has humanistic characters; he even works in a factory with humans. It is so cold outside his breath turns to ice on his whiskers. Moe and his friend Arlene have a full week worth of vacation. Unfortunately, just so they can freeze. He tries a movie, pretzel and hot cocoa and then went into a travel agency to be disappointed by the costliness of the trip to the Bahamas. After getting extremely disappointed with no tropical vacation he went home. While in a hot bath he got a great idea. A few trips to the hardware store and grocery store he surprises Arlene with a sandy beach get away in his home. They enjoy the sandy beach and warm temperatures for the entire week.

I like this book because it shows that you can make the best of a bad situation. To always be creative and look for the silver lining.

1. This would be a fun introduction to have the children write a “silver lining” story of their own, or even a class wide story.
2. You could also use this to introduce tropical/cold climates and the pros and cons of these climates.