Review: TINY GOES BACK TO SCHOOL (Carl Meister)

TINY GOES BACK TO SCHOOL is a cute little book at the Kindergarten Reading level. It has  just 99 words and sentences like the following:

Tiny is a good dog.

He does what I say.

Watch.

The Story: Tiny's boy is proud of him and how obedient Tiny is. Only problem is that Tiny isn't obedient, so his boy decides to take him to The Happy Dog School.

At first it's doggy chaos with the dogs chasing each other and having fun. That is until the dog-master brings out dog treats.  TREATS grab Tiny's attention and it isn't long until he is showing the other dogs how it's done.

WHAT I REALLY THINK:   It's a practice reader -- not a great work of fiction.  A book worth having in a teacher's book basket but not for the home shelves unless you plan on more children or to pass it on.   Kids who love dogs are going to like this one.  Particularly as we can all identify with loving treats.

Pam~


TINY GOES BACK TO SCHOOL
by Carl Meister

Reading Information:
Word Count: 99
Page Count: 32
Accelerated Reading level: 0.6 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 171596
--other reviews available
~ library find

You might also be interested in:
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 Topic: SCHOOL at the Kindergarten reading level
 Topic: THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL - books at the Kindergarten reading level
 Topic: SCHOOL at the 1st Grade reading level

 Review: SCHOOL (Emily Arnold McCully) 
------------------------------------------------------------------

Review: LOLA GOES TO THE DOCTOR

I love this book. It just has so much to offer.

First though, before I talk about the content, let me say that just about everything about LOLA GOES TO THE DOCTOR has kid appeal.  Lola the Yorkie is adorable, and the photos are bright and colorful and filled with dogs, pigs, a human baby, a chicken, older kids, and toys!  Even the end-papers show a little dog playing doctor. 

Point-and-Name: The first way to use this book is as an advanced point-and-name resource. Stethoscope, Yorkshire Terrier, Pig, Veterinarian, chicken, scale, are some samples of words you can teach little ones.

Doctor Fears: Many little ones have concerns about doctor visits.  This book with a doggy that is even smaller than they are, might help to alleviate some of those fears.  Lola talks about what she is afraid of and then she sets a good example.  

And for children facing their first visit for school, Ms. Goldman's book can serve to familiarize them with the doctor's office and what to expect.

If you have a child who is fearful of doctor visits --either for themselves or for their pets-- give LOLA GOES TO THE DOCTOR a try.  Everything is handled in a calm and affirming manner.  And the gentle humor that is thrown in doesn't hurt.

Pam~


LOLA GOES TO THE DOCTOR
by Marcia Goldman

Reading Information:
Page Count:  32
no reading information currently available 
--review copy

Review: BUILD, DOGS, BUILD! A TALL TAIL by James Horvath

I reviewed the crew's first book, DIG, DOGS, DIG here.   It was a popular post because... well, Dogs and BIG construction equipment!  Here in BUILD, DOGS, BUILD, James Horvath has the gang building a high-rise.

click on the pic - most browsers will make it BIG

I like  BUILD, DOGS, BUILD for the same reason I liked the DIG, DOGS, DIG book.  Good rhymes, humor and fun, and a lot to talk about.

Both books are a great introduction to the whole construction process. Dogs demolish stuff, read plans, and build stuff. They order equipment and parts, put things together, paint and even play around a little bit.

Good kid-pleasing stuff.

Here's part of the crew about to enjoy their lunch.

Pam~


BUILD, DOGS, BUILD: A Tall Tail
by the wonderful James Horvath

3.91 STARS from 34 GoodReaders

Reading Information:
Page Count: 40
No reading information currently available
--DIG, DOGS, DIG! is at the 2nd Grade reading level (AR 2.6) 



You can find sample pages and more at this post about DIG, DOGS, DIG


DIG, DOGS, DIG (at amazon)

Review: DIG, DOGS, DIG! by James Horvath

Dogs, Heavy Construction Equipment...
What More Can A Kid Want!

James Horvath has been amusing kids for over a decade, drawing Saturday Morning cartoons and Marvel Comics.

Now he's brought his finely honed skills to his new series that combines two kid-friendly topics: construction equipment and dogs!

Here's part of the crew. I wonder where Roxy is.

In DIG, DOGS, DIG, the crew is put to work building a park.  They wake up in the morning, have a good breakfast, and then it's a rush to work site, and a good time for all.  

The dogs' cat is named Jinx.

Fans of front-loaders, excavators, and graders, etc., will enjoy seeing those pieces of heavy equipment hard at work.  

This is a sample of an expansive 2-page spread.

I have to say that there are tons of things I liked about this book.  For one, I appreciated that it was a good Read-aloud. The rhymes worked and they weren't a challenge for me to get the rhythm right.

"There's trouble in the pit.
We've hit something big.
Get down in the hold and
dig, dogs, dig!"

I also liked that there were things to point out and discuss -- funny vignettes, as well as processes, like how concrete is laid out and fountains are installed.  

The children, of course, were focused on the heavy equipment at work, and how much goofy-fun the dogs were having.

This mom appreciated the page that showed AND labelled that equipment.

DIG, DOGS, DIG was a fun book to share, and something you might consider if you have a child that loves things that go! 

Pam~


DIG, DOGS, DIG! A Construction Tail
by the wonderful James Horvath

3.88 STARS from 106 GoodReaders

Reading Information:
Word Count: 486
Page Count: 40
Accelerated Reader:  2.6 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 159654



You can find sample pages and more at this post about BUILD, DOGS, BUILD


BUILD, DOGS, BUILD (at amazon)

Review: BABY DOGS and BABY CATS by Kari Schuetz

THE SUPER CUTE! series features books at the First Grade Reading level.  There are 13 books in the series and each focuses on a baby animal -- Bears, Cats, Cows, Deer, Dogs, Goats, Horses, Monkeys, Pandas, Penguins, Rabbits, Sloths,and Wolves.

The books range from AR 1.0 to AR 1.7 , and have 99 to 121 words.  So not too much text.

One thing you should know is that this series is most likely meant for Libraries and Classrooms.  At least that's what the price and binding suggests.  But let me give you some information on the two books that my library has.

Review: BABY DOGS

BABY DOGS is one of the easiest practice readers in this series.

WHAT I LIKED about BABY DOGS were the simple sentences and the large font. I also liked that the pages are color saturated with cheerful photographs of puppies, their moms and human friends.

Here's the text from the first page:

Young dogs are

called puppies.

Dogs can be

puppies until

age 2.

In the photo below you can see that color runs from page edge to page edge.  And that the text is presented in a happy and non-threatening format.

It would have been nice if more types of puppies were shown, but Labs are certainly beautiful dogs, and ones that children are likely to be familiar with.

This book introduces a few terms --like bond -- that children might not be familiar with. And the glossary at the end gives adults a chance to show children how definitions can be looked up.  Contents address topics like what the definition of a puppy is, litters, cleaning, drinking milk and playing.  Also when a puppy can be adopted, and the fact that puppies 'bond' and learn 'commands'.


BABY DOGS would make a nice practice reader for young children. The large font and simple sentences were well chosen.  And Puppies certainly have a broad appeal.

Pam~


BABY DOGS
by Kari Schuetz

Reading Information:
Word Count: 106
Page Count: 24
Accelerated Reader:  1.1 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 162347
Lexile: 360L

Review: BABY CATS

BABY CATS is one of the books in this new BLASTOFF READERS series. It's at the mid-1st Grade level.

WHAT I LIKED about BABY CATS were the same things I liked about BABY DOGS.  The sentences were simple, the font was appropriately large, and photographs were large and cheerful.

Is this adorable or what?!?  So cute.

WHAT I DIDN'T particularly like was that some of the pictures were fuzzy. They might have done that for the cover, to give the beautiful little kitten a warm glow; but other pictures later in the book were also fuzzed.

In addition, I thought some of the content was 'a waste of time'. Whereas just about every text block in the BABY DOGS book provided information, this book pointed out that "kittens stretch out to relax. Big yawn!". And twice it talked about how cats/kittens snuggle for warmth, and twice it pointed out that kittens are cleaned with a tongue.


SO, BABY CATS is not quite as nice as the BABY DOGS book, but probably worth borrowing from the library, as the kitten photos --fuzzy or not-- are absolutely adorable. And this will certainly help motivate young readers.

Pam~


BABY CATS
by Bethany Olson

Word Count: 106
Accelerated Reader: 1.4 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 162344 
Lexile: 420L

OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES

BABY GOATS
Word Count: 94
Accelerated Reading level: 1.0 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 162378
Lexile: 300L

BABY HORSES
Word Count: 99
Accelerated Reader:  1.1 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 162348
Lexile: 430L

BABY PENGUINS
Word Count: 116
Accelerated Reading level: 1.2 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 162379
Lexile: 330L

BABY PANDAS   -  This book now has it's own review. Find it here.
Word Count: 104
Accelerated Reading level: 1.2 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 162350
Lexile: 330L

BABY MONKEYS

Word Count: 104

Accelerated Reading level: 1.2 / points: 0.5

AR quiz: 162349

Lexile: 360L

BABY DEER
Word Count: 107
Accelerated Reading level: 1.2 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 162346 
Lexile: 320L

BABY WOLVES
Word Count: 121
Accelerated Reader:  1.3 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 162623
Lexile: 390L

BABY COWS
Word Count: 108
Accelerated Reader:  1.3 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 162345 
Lexile: 500L

BABY BEARS
Word Count: 112
Accelerated Reader:  1.3 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 162377
Lexile: 460L

BABY RABBITS
Word Count: 107
Accelerated Reading level: 1.4 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 162351 
Lexile: 440L

BABY SLOTHS
Word Count: 120
Accelerated Reading level: 1.7 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 162352 
Lexile: 570L

Review: MY DOG, MY CAT by Ashlee Fletcher

Netgalley gave me a chance to read MY DOG, MY CAT and I have to say that I really like this little book.

The artwork is very clean and simple; the colors bright, cheerful and kid-friendly.  And I wish I could share some of the pages with you, but unfortunately what I got was the e-version so sample pages aren't possible this time.  (You can, however, go to Amazon.)

The narration is about a cat and a dog and how they are different in some ways, but alike in some ways too.  For example,

My dog's tongue is wet.

My cat's tongue is rough.

and my favorite!

My dog goes to the bathroom outside.

My cat goes to the bathroom inside.

The two pets are alike --should I spoil... yes!-- in that they both like pepperoni pizza, and they both like the child that is doing the narration.  (So cute.)

So I like the artwork.  I think it's very appealing.  And I like the text as it  gives us a chance to talk with little ones about differences and similarities; textures and activities.

Definitely worth a look.

Pam~


MY DOG, MY CAT
by Ashlee Fletcher

Reading Information:
Page Count: 32
no reading information currently available
--sample pages and reviews available

UNDERWATER DOGS! Kids Edition

Underwater dogs!

My kids and I love Seth Casteel's photos. We gravitated, of course, to the Jack Russells, since we have Jackie mix. But really, most of the dogs are pretty entertaining. I don't know why except for the fact that they seem so ecstatically happy.

Charlie-Amanda

UNDERWATER DOGS has bright vivid photos that run from page edge to page edge.   There's a nice selection of close-ups shots and shots from a little further back. And one of the things I liked was that the text that accompanies the images rhymes.

Life's simple things
are what dogs
enjoy.

There's nothing
better than fetching
your toy.

My older kids --Tween and new Teen-- grabbed this book as soon as it arrived. But I think this could be a nice book to share with younger children who like dogs.

Catching that ring

sure was a breeze.

Look at the camera.

It's time to say

"Cheese!"

No reading information for this book as yet.  I think the children will like perusing the photos.  And I think the text gives adults the opportunity to discuss different verbs and adjectives than the norm.  My focus was on slow versus fast, relax vs race, joy/happiness vs uh-oh/sadness.

Pam~


UNDERWATER DOGS!  Kids Edition 
by Seth Casteel

no reading information currently
Page Count:  40
-- sample pages and price

[Thanks to the Publisher/Hachette for the review copy.  Lovely book.]

FIRST POOCH - THE OBAMAS PICK A PET

 

We loved FIRST POOCH.  It's fun and upbeat, and the artwork from Amy Bates fits Carole Weatherford's story perfectly.   [The focus is on the girls, with no heavy messages.]

One thing I liked in particular was that the book shows other Presidents, in cameos by themselves, and with their own dog buddies.  I liked this because it gives moms like me a chance to talk about the many families who have followed their candidates to the White House. 

Ms. Weatherford ties those presidents to the puppy in question by saying that while Calvin Coolidge promised a chicken in every pot, and Kennedy promised a man on the moon, the current president promised his sweet daughters, a puppy! if he was elected to the presidency.

While this may sound fatuous, the fact is that the book emphasizes that Sasha and Malia actually earned a dog by showing how responsible they could be.  They were patient and good when touring with mom and dad, and they obeyed their Grandmother while mom and dad were away on the campaign trail.  (I should note that this isn't said in print, and it's going to be something adults might have to point out if they want kids to get this message.)
 
The book continues to support this message of responsibility by pointing out how much reading and research the family did before they chose the First Pooch.

Highly recommend as a fun book to share.  Totally upbeat and non-political.  The emphasis is on the joy of dog ownership and responsibility, but there are all sorts of fun asides.  Click below to see two additional sample pages. 

click here to see more pictures from First Pooch

Pam~

FIRST POOCH
THE OBAMAS PICK A PET
by Carole Boston Weatherford
illustrated by Amy Bates

Reading Information: 
Word Count: 915
Page Count:  32
Accelerated Reading level: 4.3 / points: 0.5
AR quiz: 134371
Lexile: AD730L

FIRST POOCH - THE OBAMAS PICK A PET (ADDITIONAL IMAGES!)

FIRST POOCH
THE OBAMAS PICK A PET
by Carole Boston Weatherford
illustrated by Amy Bates

Presidents with their furry buddies

I'm not sure the Queen would like a wet kiss.

Back to the review

BOOK DU JOUR - A Ball for Daisy

A BALL FOR DAISY is an award winning wordless book from Chris Raschka. 

NYTimes 10 Best Illustrated Children's Books of 2011

**2012 Randolph Caldecott Medal Winner**

**Starred Review** School Library Journal

**Starred Review** Horn Book
**Starred Review** Kirkus

 

A BALL FOR DAISY
by Chris Raschka
32 pages

by Pam

DOG NUMBER 1, DOG NUMBER 10 by Ami Rubinger

DOG NUMBER 1, DOG NUMBER 10 is a hardback that features cute abstract drawings of fun-loving pups.

LIKES

--solid rhyme makes this book an easy read-aloud
--the text is structured so that it begs for the child to complete the couplet
--each dog displays their own number tag which accomplishes two purposes. First, it associates the phonetic sound with a digit. And second, it serves as a visual cue so that children learn to look at the artwork in books for clues as to what the words might mean, and of course, it helps so they don't get it wrong.
------I particularly LIKE that at the end ten cats are introduced so that children can practice reading to not only 10 but 20!

WASN'T CRaZy ABOUTS

--I thought some of the rhymes might not be all that meaningful to very young children. "Call me Buddy, I'm dog number...(six), as nighttime falls we're a happy mix." Okay I suppose.

This would be a good selection for a classroom where children could pick it up on their own after it's been read aloud to them a few times.

Special note: I read this one as an ebook, so cannot comment on how sturdy the book is.

Pam T
mom and fur-mom


DOG NUMBER 1, DOG NUMBER 10
by Ami Rubinger

Page Count: 28 pages
No Reading Information available
updated March 2014

UP Dog! and UP CAT! by Hazel Hutchins

Up Dog and Up Cat are two new books from HJ (Hazel) Hutchins. They came out in January of 2012 and comprise a sort of set, in that both books focus on the many uses of the word 'up', as well as image driven stories that show two frisky pets making a mess, getting put into a sort of timeout while their fur-parent cleans up after them.

The pup, for example, digs holes and chews up things he/she shouldn't. The kitten, on the other hand, leaps up on a chair and attacks a ball of yarn. Here's some sample text from several pages from both books.

(cat)
toss up
bat up
tear up
rip up

(dog)
drag up
muddy up
mess up
chew up

while the people
gather up
wash up
... snuggle up

I would use these books in two ways. The first would be to reinforce the notion to toddlers that after it's playtime, that it's time to clean up. The second way would be as a reading aid. Every time we read to very young children we should be pointing at the words on the page, helping them to connect the sounds we make to the symbols we point at. And with such short sentences --mostly 2 and 3 words long-- this is good practice material and they should be able to 'pretend to read' in no time.

If you want to check out only one, get UP CAT. It's definitely the better of the two.

Pam T
Somewhere in the X-burbs


Up Cat

• Board book: 26 pages
• Publisher: Annick Press (January 19, 2012)
• ISBN-10: 155451388X

Up Dog

• Board book: 26 pages
• Publisher: Annick Press (January 19, 2012)
• ISBN-10: 1554513898

How Rocket Learned to Read by Tad Hills

How Rocket Learned to Read is an adorable book that is going to cause strong feelings to well up in teachers everywhere. (Just so you know, I include moms and dads and grands and aunties too in the 'teacher category')

The story appears to be about this cute puppy that learns to read, but in reality it is about teaching and the joy that arises from seeing a youngster fall in love with learning. For you see, while Rocket wants to be just a dog, the little yellow bird won't hear anything of the sort. S/he gleefully exclaims, "Aha! My first student! Wonderful!" And when Rocket responds (or tries to respond) that he's not a student she says: "But if I am your teacher, ...then you must be my student."

The rest of the book goes on to show how Bird slowly reels in Rocket. Finding just the right book to grab his imagination and make him motivated to learn all she has to teach.

THE SKINNY:::

Delightfully twisted logic and joyful spunkiness is sure to amuse both children and adults! I mean who can't fall in love with someone, who when they find out their student can't read, exclaims: "Can't read? Fantastic!... Welcome to my classroom."

Kids will love the sweet artwork.

Adults who love books and learning will love How Rocket Learned to Read even more than kids as we'll no doubt recognize something of someone special in our own past that awakened these loves in us.

Pam
Somewhere in the X-burbs

How Rocket Learned to Read

• Accelerated Reading level : 2.9
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random House
• ISBN-10: 0375858997
• Sneek-a-Peek
  

Tech Data:::

Word Count: 811

Reading Level: 2.9

Accelerated Reader: reading level: 2.9 / points: 0.5 / quiz: 138479

"The Pokey Little Puppy" or Why Golden Books are Still Golden

I grew up with a shelf full of Little Golden Books in my house—they were inexpensive and fairly sturdy and my parents must have gradually acquired quite a few. Just about all of those have bit the dust by now, though I still cling to a worn out coverless copy of The Bouncy Baby Bunny Finds a Bed by Joan Bowden and Christine Westerberg.

According to my mother this book was the worst thing ever written down. Mostly because for a time it was my absolute favorite book to he ar and it’s a long book with lots of words on every page. I freely admit to being a read-aloud tyrant. I wanted the book I wanted and I knew every word so my mother had better not try to skip pages or sentences! As an adult I pulled out the book and found it just so-so, but I still hold onto it for nostalgia’s sake. Now I’m sure a large number of Golden Books were less than stellar books, but there are some out there that have remained great stories over the years, and I’m rediscovering them with my son.

My son’s favorite book these days --next to Where the Wild Things Are -- is The Poky Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey and Gustaf Tenggren. Reading it to him the first time was like hearing my mother read it to me once more—her voice echoing in my head as I read it. It’s a simple book about five naughty puppies who keep digging holes under the fence and how they lose out on dessert because of their behavior until they learn their lesson.

Of course the Poky little puppy makes out like a bandit until the other four puppies learn that lesson. What makes this book work so well is the repeated lines that fall easily from the tongue. For instance, these books contain one of the best descriptions of the movement of a group of puppies ever. “So down they went to see. Roly-poly, pell-mell, tumble-bumble, till they came to the green grass and there they stopped short.” My nearly 2 yr old son will sit patiently on our laps through this whole story, and we often can’t escape a day when both of us don’t read it to him at least once.

Unlike some Golden Books which have been forgotten with time and never seen the light of republishing (like my own notorious favorite), this book has gone on to be reprinted time and time again. In fact, I was in the grocery store the other day, only to discover a whole rack of Golden Books, including The Poky Little Puppy.

It’s easy today to overlook some of these books—there are so many fantastic picture books out there to be read and viewed and absorbed. But some of these are little gems, nuggets of gold in the stream of debris. And while they might not be able to compete full on with the artistry of many modern picture books, they’re still worthwhile to have and share with the next generation.

Remember These?

Happy Reading! ^_^ Shanshad

The Pokey Little Puppy

• Accelerated Reading level : unknown
  
• Hardcover: 52 pages
• Publisher: Golden Books
  
• ISBN-10: 0375839208
• sample pages available
  

A Deluge of Dogs by HC Fargot

I review and read a lot of children's books; I like them. I am also a dog lover and have literally had one all of my rather lengthy life (I am currently owned by four of them). I love good writing; witty writing, and have been a fan of illustrative art for more years than I care to tell you. You can imagine my absolute delight when I received one small book that covered each and every one of these important aspects of my life.

This is an alphabet book, and even though library shelves across the world groan with such work, there is always room for yet another, especially if it is new, innovative and a joy for children to read and learn from. Having spent quite some time in the class room with younger children, I can assure you that the one universal topic that can always led to endless discussion, and can always keep and hold their attention is pets...really any pet, but dogs always top this list with any group of students.

The author has used the name of the pet, dogs in this case, to introduce each letter of the alphabet. `W' is for Wishbone, `P' is for Pharoah, `J' is for Jasmine, `G' is for Genghis and so on. Each letter and name is introduced in a simple sentence such as, "C is for Cujo chewing the fat." Now to appreciate this you must view the pictures which accompany each sentence. In this case we have the kitchen floor, and on this floor we have a very large dog food bowl with a gigantic bone in it and on top of it all, a very small, and I might add adorable puppy, about half the size of the bone doing his best to demolish it.

Most of these sentences and illustrations, when taken together as a whole, are quite amusing and even funny. The author has let the dogs be what they are, intelligent, mischievous, and curious creatures full of love. One of my favorites here is "R is for Riley realizing the wurst," and we see the picture of a typical Irish Setter running down the city street with wurst links in his mouth!

Now for the art work; my goodness. Wrolf Bronesby is something of a new comer to the field; at least I was unfamiliar with his work, but folks I can assure you that you are going to hear a lot from and about this talented man in the future. Each frame of work, each individual picture is near perfection. The artist uses darkish mellow colors which sort of glow. While each painting is precise, there is no unneeded clutter scattered throughout the painting which cause the primary subject, in this case various dogs, to snap and standout from the background as they should.

The author has a way of playing with words in an understated manner and the child is introduced to new vocabulary words with almost each offering. There is a rhythm here and if the reader takes close note they will find that each proper noun is immediately followed by a verb beginning with the same letter...example: "S is for Simon sailing the lake." Word patterns are important and the little ones learn this through osmoses, if nothing else.

A perfect (or should I say `purrrrfect") companion for this work is A Nuisance of Cats - The Curious Collective by the same team; writer and artist.

The quality of these books, hard cover, is excellent. I suspect that we will not only hear much more from this author and artist, but also this publishing company, Little Known School Press.

Overall, thanks guys for offering us up some pure delight!

Also by the same author: Little Known School of Thought - The Fine Art of Jewish Suffering Without Guilt


Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

A Deluge of Dogs

• Accelerated Reading level : not known
  
• Hardcover: 64 pages
• Publisher: Little Known School Press (May 3, 2010)
• ISBN-10: 0982515022

THE DOG PRINCE

This work contains almost all of the elements which I look for in a book for children. There is a wonderful story or plot, excellent believable characters, good morals being taught, action, adventure and romance, some very fine art work which is quite eye catching, and above all, it has the ability to capture and hold interest from the first page to the last.

In a land, long ago, there lived a prince who, for lack of a better way of describing, was a total spoiled brat...a handsome young lad, that is true, but brat never-the-less. The young man was totally self centered, obnoxious and unlikeable to the extreme. Actually, he sort of reminded me of Prince Humperdinck of the 1987 film, `The Princess Bride.' I will admit though that our prince in this story was not all that evil, just extremely arrogant, rude and quite set on himself.

Anyway, this being a classic fairytale, the land is threatened by a chimera, a horrid beast, and of course the prince plans to destroy it...not to save the people so much, but because he is bored. The unlikable young prince happens upon an old woman and of course insults her...as he does almost everyone he meets. He also crosses paths with a young goat girl by the name of Eliza, and absolute stunningly beautiful goat girl I might add, and insults her too.

As chance would have it, the old woman happens to be a fairy in reality, and of course this old woman casts a spell on the prince (something all good fairies do from time to time if they are doing their job), and turns the young hansom prince into a rather semi-ugly dog. Alas, the dog prince is rejected by everyone; his family, his subjects, the people...all runs the poor dog off. Hungry and very depressed he happens upon the goat girl he insulted earlier in the story. She, being of kind heart, takes the homely looking dog in and cares for him.

Through this kindness the prince learns love, respect, manners and how other people should be treated. Of course when he saves the goat girl's flock of goats from the dreaded chimera in a battle to the death, he receives a kiss from the girl which lifts the curse and returns him to his former state; he has earned and received redemption. All is well and as in most fairy tales, they live happily ever after.

The art work in this book is absolutely stunning. The illustrator has made each and every picture an absolute delight to they eye. I do not know which was more satisfying; reading the story or looking at the pictures.

This is a wonderful book for the 4 through 8 crowd and is a great read a long to use for a group reading.

Of further note, the author can be and is rather humorous throughout this work which will keep a smile on the face of any adult doing the reading.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

THE DOG PRINCE
by Lauren Mills  

Illustrated by Dennis Nolan

4.21 Stars from 24 GoodReaders

Reading Information:
Word Count: 3,370
Page Count:  32
Accelerated Reading level: 4.6 / points: 0.5 
AR quiz: 67412

updated August 2013

 

 

Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

 

What can I say. Shiloh is the book that had my children begging me to continue reading (boy and girl; 8 and 10). We don't need TV, they said, just don't stop reading, mommy.

And I think they liked it because unlike many of the books we read this one had REAL tension emanating from the pages, and not just 'pretend' drama. The story is about Marty Preston, a 10 year-old living in rural West Virginia. I'm not sure of the timeframe, but Marty's family has a television and a fridge, but not a phone.

Marty's a boy, very much like my children, in that he REALLY wants a dog. Unfortunately, his family isn't in a position to afford one. BUT THEN one day he happens upon a lost beagle. The dog is skittish but eventually the two come together and it's more or less love at first sight. Only problem is that the dog belongs to another. A man name Judd, who it turns out abuses his hunting dogs -- much as he himself was abused as a child.

The Market Square Dog by James Herriot

HERRIOT AT HIS BEST

I have to admit to being a very big James Herriot fan, having read his entire collection of "adult" level book several times over throughout the years. I have been delighted that there have been quite a number of his wonderful stories of animals published in a format suitable for the younger set.

This is a story of a stray; a stray that has obviously seen and had some hard times. The tale is one of love, compassion and one that simply makes you feel good. Even though the dog is untouchable due to fear, he is eventually is injured and is brought to Herriot's shop for fixing. No spoilers here, but everything turns out as it should and the ending is quite fitting.

The art work in this book is almost worth the price of the book along. The soft colors used to depict a typical English village in the earlier part of the 1900s hit the mood of the book perfectly. Each painting fits the text of the book perfectly. The illustration and wonderful story Herriot tells compliment each other perfectly.

Animal lovers, both young and old will appreciate this work and it is certainly one that all children should have in their library. If nothing else, it is a good way to introduce them to this writer and indeed, to good writing overall. Highly recommend this one.

I do hope the publishers keep this series going as Herriot's books are an absolute gold mine of good material that can and should be transformed into books for the young.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

The Market Square Dog

• Accelerated Reading level : 4.4
  
• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (August 15, 1991)
• ISBN-10: 0312065671
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