I Don't Want a Posh Dog!Emma Dodd

Adorable.
Sweet.
Good Read-aloud too!

I don't want a posh dog! is a charming, kid-friendly book that is all about a little girl's criteria for the perfect dog.

You might think the author, Emma Dodd, would start the book off with a list of attributes the little girl wants for her pet, but in fact she takes the opposite approach. Thus we find out that snappy, growly, never-happy dogs need not apply. And that the little girl definitely doesn't want "an itchy dog. A scritchy, scratchy, twitchy dog."

Ms. Dodd does this on purpose, of course, for by the time she turns this theme around, you find yourself waiting in anticipation for exactly what it is that she does want. And that's when Dodd zings you, hitting with a barrage of sweet messages -- ones that left us going Ahhhh.

Wrap Up:::
I Don't Want a Posh Dog! is a lovely book. The pages are thick and glossy and the artwork is adorable. On the whole, the book seems very substantial, although I must admit that nothing can stand up to a rowdy toddler on a rampage.

The lyrics and artwork (the principal charm of this book) are delightful. My kids, currently 7 and 9, chuckled throughout. I especially liked the breath of vocabularly words that were introduced.

The resource I referenced gave the Accelerated Reading level (wikipedia entry) as a generic "1". Given the fact that the vocabulary includes words like "snooty", "bouncy" and "attitudey" I can only assume that it must be towards the high side of the 1 range-- perhaps 1.9.

The interest range for this book is fairly broad. Boys and girls as young as toddlers and as old as 8 or 9 could find it appealing. I'd consider it as a gift for dog-lovin' children under 6 years of age.

Very Good Read-a-Loud.