Spot's Hide and Seek

Spot's Hide and Seek
by
Eric Hill
board book
ages 0-4

Spot is one cute puppy!

I have read other Spot books and they feature the same friends as this book does, but I did not know their names before.
Helen - the hippopotamus (or maybe she is a rhinoceros)
Steve - the monkey
Tom - the alligator

In this book, the other animals hide and Spot has to find them. A lot of giggling takes place.

Eric Hill has another winning book that I recommend for public libraries.

Outside Dog

Outside Dog
by
Charlotte Pomerantz and Jennifer Plecas, read by Becca Lish
children's fiction, audiocassette

Marisol wants a dog. One day the opportunity presents itself. Grandfather is not happy. Slowly, however, the mutt wins his way into their hearts. The reader does a good job of capturing the "pleading child" sound. Many listeners will find it easy to identify with Marisol from their own experiences.

Some Spanish phrases are thrown in, as the main characters are Hispanic.

The word that came to mind when thinking of this book was "inveigle".

The dog inveigles himself into our hearts.
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http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inveigle

Definition of INVEIGLE
transitive verb
1: to win over by wiles : entice
2: to acquire by ingenuity or flattery : wangle
— in·vei·gle·ment \-gəl-mənt\ noun
— in·vei·gler \-g(ə-)lər\ noun
See inveigle defined for English-language learners »
See inveigle defined for kids »
Examples of INVEIGLE
She inveigled him to write the letter.
We inveigled the information from him.
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Spot's Toys

Spot's Toys
by
Eric Hill
board book
ages 0-4

Spot is a loveable, adorable, and playful puppy. He plays with his alligator and monkey friends until Mama dog tells him it is time for bed. These are books to cuddle up with and fall asleep on.

Spot books are good for vocabulary building.

These sturdy cardboard books would be a good set to give at a baby shower:
Spot's Snowy Day
Spot Loves His Friends
Spot Loves His Mommy
Spot's Toys

Libraries should also consider purchasing Spot DVD's for young viewers.

Noodles: I Love School!

Noodles: I Love School!
by
Hans Wilhelm
Scholastic Level 1, Beginning Reader 50-250 words
children's fiction, ages 2-7

If you like Biscuit and Kipper, then Noodles is the dog for you. This is a simple book. Noodles, a fluffy, little white, Benji-type mop dog visits a school and sees what goes on there. The dog is dog-like and the children are human beings. We are not told why Noodles visits the school, but this book would be good for using when a child is getting ready to start school to let him or her know what to expect during an elementary school day.

Biscuit Wants to Play

Biscuit Wants to Play
My First I Can Read Book
by Alyssa Satin Capucilli and Pat Schories
ages 2-6
children's fiction

This book is recommended for beginning readers. The pictures are big and colorful. The words and sentences are short and simply printed. The plot is basic. In each Biscuit book the dog does realistic dog things. In this book he wants to play with kittens. The animals are animal-like - not anthropomorphic. The dogs say "woof" and the cats say "meow". For this reason you can safely recommend this book and the series to even the most conservative families.

The pictures are "greeting card"/Precious Moment-type cute and timeless.

Poky Little Puppy

Poky Little Puppy
a Golden Book
by
Janette Sebring Lowrey
children's fiction
ages 2-6
copyright 1942

Well I remember listening to the 45 record with this tale on it. We also had a number of other Golden Books and records like Scuffy the Tugboat and the Saggy Baggy Elephant and The Little Engine That Could.
I can not read this book without singing the words "Where in the World Is the Poky Little Puppy? Where Can that Puppy Be?
A group of puppies disobey their mother and dig under a fence to explore the big, wide, world. Will the ringleader and the others get in trouble and miss having dessert? Find out in this charming classic book.
If you can, get the book plus cassette, CD, or electronic audiobook so you can sing along.

Lego City Adventures: Help Is on the Way!

Lego City Adventures: Help Is on the Way!
by
Sonia Sander
ages 4-6
Scholastic Reader, level 1, 50-250 words, sight words, words to sound out & simple sentences.

I thought from the title and the cover that this would be a book for boys, but it turns out that the main character is a Lego girl and she is trying to help her Lego dog, so both boys and girls should like this book. The pictures look like Legos in a shameless marketing of the beloved classic toy. In the back cover there is a photograph of the play set that one can purchase to act out the story. If it gets a kid to pick up a book and read it, then shameless marketing is okay by me. I am reminded that the Cheerios Counting Book and M & M Counting Book are also very popular.
This is a cheap, colorful, easy-to-read book that a school library or public library can make available to young readers.

Clifford's Busy Week

Clifford's Busy Week
by
Norman Bridwell
children's fiction
ages 2-6

We love those good old educational Clifford The Big Red Dog books! Today's children watch Clifford on PBS as well. He is also the star of some educational CD-ROM products and featured on the great PBS kids website.
http://pbskids.org/
In this book Clifford and Emily Elizabeth help children learn the days of the week and practice sequencing as they do different activities on different days. Repetition, humor, and bold colors (especially RED) make this a winner. I am glad that Clifford books are widely available in hardback and in affordable paperback from Scholastic.

Honey Helps

Happy Honey: Honey Helps
by
Laura Godwin and Jane Chapman
fiction
beginning reader - ages 4-6

This book has a simple story, large type, and minimal words. It is sort of like a "Dick and Jane" book". The pictures are cute and simple as well. Happy is a dog. Honey is a cat. They do typical cat and dog behaviors. (They are not acting like humans, but real animals). That's it. This book is good for beginner readers and I have found it on a number of recommended book lists for 4-6 year olds. There are probably a lot of real dogs and cats out there with the names "Happy" and "Honey", due in part to this book.

Hey, Al

Hey, Al
by
Richard Egielski
Caldecott Medal winner (1986)

children's fantasy fiction
ages 3-9

This book seems like an old fairy tale with a familiar theme. A janitor (and his dog) dream of a better life with a bigger place to live. One day they get their wish, but it is not all it is cracked up to be. They find themselves longing for the "good ole days" when life was normal.
The illustrations are rich and fanciful. This is a fine book that should be popular for many decades.

Clifford's Peekaboo

Clifford's Peekaboo
based on the character by
Norman Bridwell
board book ages 0-3

Here is a short book featuring everyone's favorite Big Red Dog - but when he was a Small Red Puppy.

This book offers an excuse to say "Peekaboo"! to the baby audience over and over again. Clifford the puppy is hiding - peekaboo! This book uses very short rhyming sentences and colorful, playful pictures. It would be a good one to use at the beginning of a baby and parent storytime.

These are other books in the series:
Clifford's Animal Sounds
Clifford's Bathtime
Clifford's Bedtime

Doggies: A Counting and Barking Book

Doggies: A Counting and Barking Book
by
Sandra Boynton
board book
ages 0-3

Woof?
Yap Yap!
Ruff Ruff.

Read this to your little one if you are prepared to act silly and get a big grin from the youngster.
What is the sound of one dog? Now how about 10!
This is simple and goofy and a good review of the numbers 1-10 with Sandra Boynton doing what she does best - fitting simple text to her comic book style animals.

Chicken Soup for the Cat and Dog Lover's Soul

Chicken soup for the cat & dog lover's soul: celebrating pets as family with stories about cats, dogs, and other critters
by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Marty Becker, Carol Kline
audiobook on CD

I am not sure how they decided whether cats or dogs got first billing on this marquee, but this is a heartwarming collection of stories about human's best friends in the animal kingdom. Warning to drivers: If listening to this audiobook while driving, proceed with caution. Tears may come to your eyes when you hear about the actions of selfless animals.

I don't see all the narrators listed on the cover. There are at least 2 male and 2 female narrators. I think at least one story is told by the DJ from Northern Exposure.

I rate this disc to be family friendly and recommend it for car trips.

Harriet and the Roller Coaster

Harriet and the Roller Coaster
by
Nancy Carlson
Children's fiction, book plus cassette
ages 3-8

George teases Harriet that she is too chicken to ride the roller coaster. Can Harriet work up the courage to try the coaster? I am dreaming of summer and amusement park rides on this cold January day in Ohio thanks to Nancy Carlson! Cedar Point! King's Island! County Fair! State Fair! Here I come!

Her story is straightforward and rather realistic except for the main characters being a cartoon dog and a rabbit riding amusement park rides. I especially liked that the dog is wearing a Hawaiian shirt with dog bones on it - doggy summer fashion.

Arthur's New Puppy

Arthur's New Puppy
by
Marc Brown
Children's Fiction, ages 3-7.

This is one in the Arthur the Aardvark series. Arthur gets a puppy, Pal. Pal does not behave. He makes a mess on the floor and carpet. He eats the couch. He doesn't want to go for a walk. Can Arthur rein him in or will they have to get rid of Pal?
This would be good to read if a family is considering getting a dog and it will appeal to fans of the PBS children's series and the Arthur series of books.

Nubs: The True Story of a Marine, a Mutt and a Miracle

Nubs: The True Story of a Marine, a Mutt and a Miracle
by
Maj. Brian Dennis, Mary Nethery and Kirby Larson
Children's nonfiction, ages 5-10.

After reading about Bobbie and Bob Cat in Kirby Larson's "Two Bobbies" I saw that she published another heart rendering tale of a canine overcoming adversity.
Nubs is one of many stray, starving dogs in Iraq. He lives on the fringes of an army camp begging for food. Nubs, unlike many of the other dogs, likes people. In particular he likes Major Dennis. Marines aren't allowed to own dogs while on combat duty, so Dennis leaves Nubs behind each time he moves out. Nubs waits for him over and over. The last time, however, Nubs can not stand to be parted from Dennis again so he follows him across the desert for 70 miles. What loyalty! Dennis knows he can't abandon Nubs again, so he sees what he can do to get Nubs a better home.
This is a good enough book, but "Two Bobbies" was better because Bobbie was a life saver. Nubs is cute and all, but he doesn't put out any fires or save Timmy from a well or anything.
This book relies on graphics and photographs. "Two Bobbies" had illustrations. Again, I think "Two Bobbies" was better visually.

You can read a lot more about this story by using any search engine. Here is one report.
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/33585208/

I also read on the internet that they are planning a movie based on this story. Surely there are some stories about drug or bomb sniffing dogs that would be better? I would rather see a movie about the dogs that helped find people in the post 9-11 wreckage.

Two Bobbies

Two Bobbies: A True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship, and Survival
by
Kirby Larson, Mary Nethery, and Jean Cassels
Nonfiction, ages 6 - adult.
My library put this in the children's section, but it is one of those books that many adults would enjoy unaccompanied by a child. I would not be surprised if Reader's Digest didn't feature this story in the Drama in Real Life section.
A cat and a dog keep each other alive during the hurricane that decimated New Orleans. Have plenty of Kleenex ready. This is a tearjerker. There are some amazing details that can only be true because they are so bizarre and unexpected.
I am delighted to see that one of the authors was Kirby Larson, whose book "Hattie Big Sky" I greatly enjoyed.
This is a must have book for elementary, junior high, public libraries, and any library in the greater New Orleans metropolitan service area. It should take its place among the great cat and dog books. Put this on the shelf next to "All Creatures Great and Small", "Black Beauty", "Lassie", "Lad", "Listen to Your Kitten Purr" and other great animal books.
Then again, I have mixed up the fiction and nonfiction section of the library, so I should say that at home you could put them on the shelf together. At the library this book will be under Dewey 636 with true animal books.
You can safely recommend this book to even the most conservative home school parent as the animals act like animals (not people) and compassion is emphasized. You also can recommend it to your most liberal animal rights patrons, so this is a win-win book!

Hallo-Weiner

Hallo-Weiner
by
Dav Pilkey
children's fiction ages 4-8.

School Library Journal says "This may be the funniest Halloween story ever written".

Oscar (Oscar Myer that is) is a dachshund. The other dogs laugh at how low and long he is. His mother is no help, calling him her little Vienna sausage and her frankfurter. Will he find his own special niche in life like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer or Nestor the Long Eared Donkey?
http://www.rankinbass.com/
http://enchantedworldofrankinbass.blogspot.com/

If you have been grossed out by Dav Pilkey's other works, like Captain Underpants, don't worry about this one. The Hallo-weiner is just plain funny with no poop jokes. It is not scary at all. Re-reading this book, I see that it is one that you can have children try to find the cats or the jack-o-lantern on each page.

This is a good story to read aloud at Halloween. I read this a few years ago accompanied by Ginger, the dachshund, who was a hit at storytime. For dachshund lovers, try also Pretzel by H. A. and Margret Rey of Curious George fame.

http://www.pilkey.com/bookview.php?id=38