Clover Goes to Notre Dame - a review by Lauren Dangel

Good morning and Happy Saturday! I hope you're ready for another barn burner tonight when the Notre Dame Fighting Irish head to Louisville, Kentucky, to play the Louisville Cardinals. I'm ready for it ... are you? 

As we countdown to kickoff, my peer and fellow OneFootDown contributor, Lauren Dangel, has graciously agreed to review my new children's book, Clover Goes to Notre Dame. 

Here's what she has to say! 

Clover Goes to Notre Dame - a review by Lauren Dangel

In Lisa Kelly’s Clover Goes to Notre Dame, a curious and playful French bulldog learns that the three leaves of her namesake remind us to keep faith, hope, and love in our hearts. However, she worries she may not be worthy of her name. As she starts to think about what it means to be a good clover, she accompanies her mom on a visit to the home of the Domers.

By the time she sees the Golden Dome and joins the football crowd, she’s so excited she doesn’t realize she’s broken St. Mary’s Lake’s “no swimming” rule until she’s made a big splash! Can you blame her, though? It’s Notre Dame!

Clover receives the full college tour, befriends a campus squirrel, and of course, snags some gear at the bookstore, a requirement for any college visit. As she begins to feel at home as a French bulldog among the Fighting Irish, she realizes honoring a legacy, and being a clover, doesn’t mean being perfect.

This Frenchie’s campus visit took me back to my own childhood. My Irish fandom began at the age of three, of course, with a story. I came to love the gold and blue when I saw the movie Rudy for the first time and heard that chant in the stands. Just as Daniel Ruettiger’s story inspired my love of Notre Dame, Clover’s story is sure to inspire that same love of the distinct Irish pageantry and tradition in young readers.

Every university has traditions, but few have stories like Notre Dame. Clover’s visit to her mom’s alma mater invites a new generation to fall in love with the stories and traditions of the Fighting Irish and inspires them to imagine their own places in them.

Every child wants to be part of something special. Clover’s journey across Notre Dame’s campus reminds young readers of the important roles they play even when they worry they may not fit in or live up to their names.

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Thank you, Lauren, for your book review of Clover Goes to Notre Dame.

Want to check it out for yourself? Head over to my website: www.EchoesFromNotreDameBooks.com. In addition to my new children's book, I have a Notre Dame football cookbook, and three non-fiction books about Notre Dame athletes, as well as children's book packages bundling the book with a Frenchie stuffed animal or a Kelly green children's hat. 

Cheers & GO IRISH!