Storytime with Dogs

Author Gayle Elias will read from her non-fiction illustrated books Ichabod-Where is the Glory? and Sarge Finds His Place while accompanied by her dogs, Ichabod and Sarge, the main characters in her books. Each book tells the survivor stories and the health challenges Ichabod and Sarge faced before being adopted by Elias.

The author wrote these books as tools for parents, educators and therapists to teach children kindness and empathy, traits that are nurtured through the compassionate treatment of animals. Her book about Sarge also addresses diversity and how the world could be a better place if we embraced our similarities as well as our differences.

Ages 6 to 14; young children must be accompanied by an adult.

Registration required.

An outpatient therapist who works with children, adolescents and adults, Elias visits elementary school classrooms and libraries to read her books to children as a means for discussing the importance of kindness to animals and acceptance of diversity. She also teaches young children about dog safety; how to read dog body language; and when it's safe, and not safe, to approach a dog.

Elias adopted Ichabod, a disabled malamute and survivor of the dog meat trade (DMT) in East Asia, in 2021. Later that year he was certified as a therapy dog, and in 2022, with Elias, joined the staff of a local elementary school as a clinical therapy dog team. Sarge Finds His Place is Elias's follow-up to Ichabod-Where is the Glory? It tells the story of Sarge, a German shepherd, and his journey home and recovery after also being adopted from East Asia.

Elias is passionate about raising awareness of the DMT, the importance of animal welfare laws, and advocating for the Alaskan malamute breed.