Kid's Book Blog

This colorful, young read-aloud about all things canine is doggone fun. Woof! Sit. Stay. Roll Over. Sure, those are the classics—but dogs can do so much more! Sledding. Shedding. Inspecting. Protecting. Paddling laps. Dancing? Perhaps! Be it a working dog or a playing dog, man’s best friend can be pretty darn busy. This energetic, rhyming text paired with vibrant, playful illustrations is sure to get dog lovers everywhere eager to teach their old dogs some new tricks.

adorable illustrations! a fun and silly dog story about Marley one of our favorite four legged friends!

It’s Halloween, the silliest and spookiest night of the year. And when Marley’s around, it’s also the messiest! This year the family is throwing a big Halloween party, and Marley wants to help with the preparations. But in typical Marley fashion, instead of helping he causes havoc. He gets his head stuck in a pumpkin, turns the streamers into confetti, eats all of the Halloween candy, and that’s just the beginning!

Kindergarten-Grade 2—Stella is a lonely pit bull who uses a crown and fake tail to masquerade as a pig princess in order to join a dance class and meet friends. Her classmates are skeptical about her porcine roots but are interrupted by elegant Madame Cochon, who drills the youngsters and Stella for an important recital. Stella's initial clumsiness disappears with her faithful practice of pirouettes, pliés, and jetés. When the show's star is injured, Madame selects her to perform the famous "32 perfect turns." Despite dreading the necessity of removing the crown she believes hides her identity, Stella is a grand success on stage, and she learns that everyone knew all along she was neither a princess nor a pig. The final page has lyrics for a "follow your dream" song. Peters reads the story and sings the song on the accompanying CD. Murphy's paintings with collage provide all the ideals of ballet, from frothy tutus to embroidered bodices, and her animals' expressions are priceless.

beautiful illustrations and a fun and creative story all about a little dog who is a ballerina!

There once was a dog who had no name, and he had no home.” Thankfully, this down-on-his-luck mutt has cuteness in spades, which comes in handy the day he meets a lonely boy in a city park. Usually he is shooed away and called “fleabag”—the fleas are illustrated as little dots floating above his head—but this particular boy likes him anyway. In fact, as the weeks wear on, the two look forward to each meeting. But then comes terrible news: the boy is moving away. The sadness of the moment is beautifully evoked with a giant green crest of a hill minimizing the city and giving rise to a blue sky empty of all things save a single airplane. Stephens' paint-and-pencil artwork nicely muddles the messy gray areas of a gritty city and alternates multiframe pages with spreads that are surprisingly open. This being a story about loyalty, there is naturally a very happy ending in store.

adorable story of a lonely little homeless dog called Fleabag who finds a new family in a little boy he meets at the park! A perfect read aloud for dog lover's!

PreS—An eager little dog is looking for someone to play with when her ball bounces down a hill into town. A colorful spread shows the park and four buildings set around it, with many children and adults playing and going about their business. Maggie searches for her ball everywhere, circling the town and looking in all the shop windows. The illustrations are bright and big, as is the minimal text, making the oversize book a winner for preschool storytimes as well as for individual perusings where the ample small details will fascinate children. Eventually, Maggie ends up disconsolately resting near a bench occupied by a girl reading—but wait—is there a yellow ball next to the bench? The little girl asks Maggie to play ball with her, and the pup delightedly complies. The pictures of the dog bursting with joy and happiness when she finds her ball and a friend are priceless.

An adorable companion book for a little one or any dog lover! a fun search and find read aloud story for young children!  Check this book and see if you can help Maggie find her little ball!

by Deborah Heiligman
PreSchool-Grade 2
Tinka, a golden retriever, is "a joy dog,/a boy's dog,/a chews-a-brand-new-toy dog." She loves her boy and doesn't like being left at home when he boards a bus on a fall morning. When Mom isn't looking, the "spring-and-sprint-and-streak dog" races to school, runs through the halls causing mayhem, and ends up finding her boy in his classroom. Although she makes the teacher unhappy by messing up the room, the students are delighted by Tinka's presence and find that the pup loves a read-aloud. In the end, she's "a please-come-every-day dog."

Bowers's vivid acrylic illustrations are full of expression, from the pup peeking through a screen door while waiting to make her move to the smiling children and teacher waving good-bye at the end of the day. Youngsters will like learning with each turn of the page just what makes this dog so special.