An entertaining, action-packed tale about raising a puppy that focuses on bad behavior.
In this illustrated children’s book, a rambunctious puppy upends a household.
Breuer draws on her experience as a dog owner for this work. The story features two canines, Tucker and Ridge, and a cat called Trouble who live with their humans in northeast Washington state. The trio gets along well and life is good until Daisy Mae, a German shepherd puppy, arrives. Daisy Mae is a “whirlwind of energy and activity” who disrupts the formerly “quiet, peaceful home.” The puppy cries at night, tries to bite the household humans and pets, attempts to steal food, and harasses the cat. The humans constantly shout “NO!” but Daisy Mae doesn’t understand their exasperation. “Learn to follow the rules. Then you will always hear ‘Good dog, Daisy Mae,’” Tucker tells her. Tucker and Ridge do their best to teach the puppy about walking on a leash, going potty outside, and leaving sleeping dogs alone. Trouble uses hisses and swats to reinforce boundaries. Tucker explains to Daisy Mae that “a good dog gets along with all sorts of people and animals. A good dog is calm even in strange situations. A good dog trusts its people to protect it from harm.” Over time, and with positive reinforcement, Daisy Mae learns to coexist peacefully with her housemates. By the end of the story, Daisy Mae is no longer just a source of chaos, but a beloved part of the pack as well. Breuer realistically captures the destructive antics of puppies, such as tearing up toilet paper and tipping over plants. The storytelling from Tucker’s point of view allows for humorous commentary: “‘Hiss’ is ‘Leave me alone’ in cat language.” Daisy Mae’s perspective is also unique and often funny in lines like “The people keep calling me ‘NO.’” Caswell’s dynamic illustrations convey Daisy Mae’s nonstop naughtiness and others’ emotional reactions to it. But the puppy-training techniques are barely shown in the story; instead, readers are told about them in a “Tips” section at the book’s end.
An entertaining, action-packed tale about raising a puppy that focuses on bad behavior.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come.
Little Blue Truck and his pal Toad meet friends old and new on a springtime drive through the country.
This lift-the-flap, interactive entry in the popular Little Blue Truck series lacks the narrative strength and valuable life lessons of the original Little Blue Truck (2008) and its sequel, Little Blue Truck Leads the Way (2009). Both of those books, published for preschoolers rather than toddlers, featured rich storylines, dramatic, kinetic illustrations, and simple but valuable life lessons—the folly of taking oneself too seriously, the importance of friends, and the virtue of taking turns, for example. At about half the length and with half as much text as the aforementioned titles, this volume is a much quicker read. Less a story than a vernal celebration, the book depicts a bucolic drive through farmland and encounters with various animals and their young along the way. Beautifully rendered two-page tableaux teem with butterflies, blossoms, and vibrant pastel, springtime colors. Little Blue greets a sheep standing in the door of a barn: “Yoo-hoo, Sheep! / Beep-beep! / What’s new?” Folding back the durable, card-stock flap reveals the barn’s interior and an adorable set of twin lambs. Encounters with a duck and nine ducklings, a cow with a calf, a pig with 10 (!) piglets, a family of bunnies, and a chicken with a freshly hatched chick provide ample opportunity for counting and vocabulary work.
Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come. (Board book. 1-4)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-544-93809-0
Page Count: 16
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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