Jessica Swaim

One day, when a lonely woman named Mary realized she needed some company, she went to the pound and adopted a blue basset hound. Of all the dogs, Blue was the only one who was not obedience trained. When they returned home, Blue tracked mud in the house, chewed Mary's robe, and peed in her shoe. Was it all a big mistake adopting Blue? Then the Blue let out a howl and the other dogs from the pound all came running to Mary's home. Soon her house was full of mutts from the pound, who all bowed to their leader, Blue. Then Sam, the trainer, burst in trying to round them all up, but Mary decided to keep them all.
Sam stayed for dinner that night and he and Mary fell in love. Soon they got married and all of the dogs attended the wedding, with Blue being the best man.
This book teaches readers that there are positives to see in everyone. Even Blue, who was said to be the only dog who was not obedient trained, made an impact by training all of the other dogs. Young children will surely enjoy the style of the book as it is written in AA poetry format. It is easy and fun to read.… (más)

The main message of this picture book is to try and be accepting and as caring as possible to everyone and eventually everyone will find someone to love.
I wasn’t quite fond of this book because of the language, the plot, and the characters.
Although this book contains many dog names, I was not fond of the language used. There are many parts that feel unorganized with too many details that are not related to the story. Also the usage of dog names became quite confusing to those that know little about dogs and although one would not have to look them up, it did interrupt the flow of the words.
I also wasn’t fond of the plot of this book. The beginning where Mary was lonely and wanted a dog was believable and kept me interested but once she wanted to keep at least 15 dogs, dogs that do not listen, I had a hard time creating a connection with the Mary. Also I had a hard time with Sam, a canine trainer, would let her keep so many and also help her train them. It was a bit much for me to accept for a story that is based off a realistic world.
In addition, I wasn’t very fond of the characters. Originally, I felt bad for Mary, being all alone and wanted to adopt a dog but the farther I got into the book, the harder time I had connecting with Mary or Sam. Although this is a children’s book, they seemed quite plain and had unrealistic reactions to the events that were happening to them. I doubt any person would want to keep roughly 15 dogs after they completely destroyed their house.… (más)