Jennifer Niland Wright

The Grumbly Pug Jennifer Niland Wright

A funny, charming and utterly heartwarming memoir by a pug! ("I am a pug, not a dog.") Illustrated with color photographs throughout.

From the moment Zoe Wright was born she knew she was different from her littermates. She stood alone in the otherwise squirming, squeally, brand-new grumble of pugs, a wise old soul who just happened to be trapped in the confines of fur, four legs, and a flat little face. She knew she would one day speak for all pugs by writing a book but also knew that since she suffered from a lack of basic grammar and had pudgy (though charmingly cute) paws that could not type, she would need help. Lo and behold, the perfect candidate was sitting right there next to the grumbly puppy, a kind-hearted, flannel-pajama-clad young woman who had been up all night waiting for Zoe to be born.

Mom.

Mom was a little naïve and not only did Zoe get her to agree to take pictures and type up Zoe's essays but she also talked Mom into talking Dad into buying a big house with a HUGE yard. Zoe flourished as a spoiled only child but then one day her charmed life began to change. First Mom brought home an abandoned little lop-eared rabbit named Thurman. Then Mom brought home an abused and broken-spirited little pug named Coley. Then Mom brought home a crazy calico cat from the Humane Society named Holly. And last but not least Mom really outdid herself by bringing home a gigantic, insanely playful German Shepherd puppy named Jessie.

It took some time for Zoe (who was not nicknamed The Grumbly Pug for nothing) to realize that these siblings would not detract from her well-heeled lifestyle but could, in fact, give her some great material to use in her book. What she did not foresee was how very much she would come to love each member of her riotously diverse family and how that love would come to permeate every nuance of her book, making it slightly magical.