Parents' Choice Awards : Books : Picture Books
Dog Tales
Spring 2000 Picture Books
Ages: 4 - 8 yrs.
Author: Jennifer Rae
Illustrator: Rose Cowles
Publisher: Ten Speed Press/Tricycle Press
ISBN: 1582460116
Hardcover Price: $14.95
Review:
These re-tellings of classic fairy tales with a doggy twist are great fun. I told my four-year-old we'd read one a night, but that wouldn't do. After hearing one, he had to read another right away. That's a good sign.
His favorite was Jack Russell and the Beanstalk, in which Jack, the Jack Russell Terrier, begs a stray dog for magic beans, plants them and then climbs the bean stalk to find a cranky Great Dane and his Bloodhound wife up there. Clever Jack manages to make off with a big bag of bones and live happily ever after.
In another story, Cindersmelly, a mutt who has to clean house for some "persnickety Siamese cats," winds up riding a magic vacuum cleaner to a pet show. And in Rapawnzul, the star of the story has very long ears. You get the idea. Jennifer Rae's tales are great fun and Rose Cowles' dressed-up dog illustrations fit the whimsy just right.
Ann and Don Oldenburg ©2000 Parents' Choice
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