Puppy tales at booksigning

Nutmeg and Mocha are intelligent, personable and interesting, but they don’t speak English — or anything else, for that matter. They are, after all, dogs.

That’s why Tristan Perry decided to speak for them.

Perry, who lives in Montgomery County and is doing a book signing at Givens Books 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 3, says she intended her children’s book, “Furry Tails: The Adventures of Cinnamon Persimmon,” to be written from a dog’s point of view, “relating to people the way a dog would.”

Or, put another way, a blurb from PublishAmerica explains:

“In ‘Furry Tails,’ the Atkins family has a new addition to their home: an apricot-colored toy poodle named Cinnamon Persimmon. Many adventures await Cinnamon, from backyard encounters with other animals to befriending a sick, elderly patient to lift her spirits. Cinnamon is quite the curious puppy, which gets her into trouble at times. The poodle with the big brown eyes is sure to make both furry and non-furry friends along the way, yet no one could love her more than her new family.”

The real Cinnamon is Perry’s sister’s dog, but the book also speaks for Perry’s own dogs, Nutmeg and Mocha.

“I’ve always loved toy poodles,” said Perry, whose Ph.D is in nursing education. “They make wonderful pets, and I want to share that with other people, especially kids.”

In fact, 4-year-old Mocha and 10-year-old Nutmeg will accompany their owner to the Givens signing, which will also involve representatives from the Lynchburg Humane Society and free dog biscuits in celebration of National Pet Week.

w If Don Hancock expected to return to his hometown of Bel Air, Md., in triumph as a published author earlier this month, he was doomed to disappointment.His book, “Growing Up With B.G.,” is a “95-percent fictional” account of two brothers, based on the childhood of Don and his brother Ron.

“It went pretty well, in a lot of ways,” said Don Hancock, perhaps best known in Lynchburg for his work with Big Brothers & Sisters. “I talked to the organizing committee for our high school reunion, and I’ll be able to sell some books there.”

The novel is similar, in some ways, to the old “Mom always loved you best” shtick employed by the Smothers Brothers. Since Ron skipped a grade in school, he and Don were in the same grade through most of their boyhood. And whatever they did, Ron was always a little bit more successful.

One thing Ron hasn’t done is publish a book. Yet after Don returned to Lynchburg from a reunion planning session, he received an e-mail that read, “It was nice to see Don and Ron here in Bel Air. Ron, we’re really looking forward to reading your book.”