GOOD GOLLY MISS MOLLY AND THE 4TH OF JULY, written and illustrated by Eloise and Robert Ensor, Windswept House Publishers, Mount Desert, 1997, 40 pages, $9.95.

I think what I love most about the Fourth of July is that it hasn’t yet been supersized into a commercialized parody of itself by people and companies seeking to make big money.

Women’s magazines give us barbecue tips and red, white and blue desserts. But it’s nothing like the assault of Martha Stewart wannabees on Thanksgiving. Hardware stores drape power mowers and barbecue grills in star-spangled bunting. But we don’t have a month of commercial-laden TV specials.

Basically we still celebrate our nation’s birth in small, quiet ways that allow us to reflect on its meaning.

“Good Golly Miss Molly and the 4th of July” helps families celebrate the timelessness of that oh-so-special day and lets us meet a very spunky fox terrier in the process.

Molly enjoys being top dog in her Port Clyde home. She encounters a number of interesting varmints: a red fox with a beautiful tail, a barred owl hunting for mice, a large moose that she barks at from the safety of her home, and an apple-loving porcupine.

On the 4th of July, Molly, dressed in a star-spangled jacket and pulling her toy dog, Macaroni, in a little red, white and blue cart, is all set to march in the parade when she decides to say hello to an interesting critter with horns. The goat lets her know that it does not share her desire for friendship. Fortunately there is time to stop the parade and restore order. As the day ends, Molly, none the worse for her adventure, enjoys a picnic and fireworks with her people.

There is a real-life Molly who now lives a mellow lifestyle in Port Clyde. Her master and biographer, Robert Ensor, describes Port Clyde as one of the few midcoast towns that is like it used to be 50 years ago — a place where people are happy to help a neighbor in need.

“It’s still essentially a fishing village. There’s no shopping malls. We still have a general store. We don’t even have a gas station.”

Before she joined the Ensor family, Molly was out on the show dog circuit. According to Ensor, she did not enjoy traveling or having a fuss made over her. “She found it a lot more fun to start a free-for-all with the dog next door.”

Molly then became a performer in photoanimation teaching sequences for “Sesame Street.” Because she was not happy sharing a house with eight or nine other dogs, her people desperately wanted to find a new home for her.

Ensor and his wife, Eloise, needed her as much as she needed them. They had lost their beloved Nellie, whose adventures were the basis of “Nellie the Lighthouse Dog” and “Nellie the Flying Instructor,” to cancer. They were initially reluctant to get a dog, fearing that it could never replace Nellie. Then they decided to open their hearts and home to another fox terrier.

Ensor finds comfort in his Nellie books. He encourages people to write stories about their beloved pets. “It’s not about mourning. It’s reliving the pleasant times you shared with a dear friend of the family.”

Currently Ensor is recording more of Molly’s escapades. Three young fans and one not-so-young fan in my household are eagerly awaiting that sequel.