Customer Reviews

Always In Trouble

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The appealing, unpredictable pooch (who is always in trouble) will brighten even the bleakest season. Anyone who has ever had a dog who wasn't always perfect will love this story and smile at the surprising turn of events. The illustrations are zany and delightful.

Toby the dog chews, digs, plays in the mud, pees on the carpet, and eats what he shouldn't; and despite giving him extra attention, Emma just couldn't rely on Toby to behave. So off to group obedience training school he went; and as what so often times happens with kids as well, Toby was the model student at school. Unfortunately, Toby went right back to his old tricks after receiving his dog training diploma. So desperate measures required desperate methods, which lead to "individual" doggie training. Happily for Toby, Emma, and mom's laundry Toby becomes the model dog at home as well (at least most of the time).

Great read aloud for practicing and teaching prediction, what-if-questions, alternate endings, calendar and respect lessons. The bright and expressive illustrations show the action and mood of the tale to perfection. Those who've gone through raising a puppy will make laugh out loud connections throughout.

Pairs nicely with, Katie Loves the Kittens, and Stella, Unleashed: Notes from the Doghouse.

Sooner or later, it comes to every kid's life. One day, they start misbehaving for no reason, and for a while they are always in trouble. Even kids who've always had reliably good behavior still have a 6-month streak of badness right before kindergarten -- this is the perfect book.

"Always in Trouble" has cute illustrations and a very nice family, and reading it to your kids helps parents remember that every dog... er, kid ... will get through those misbehaving days. It's a nice, gentle way to show love to your kids, despite their behavior.

I find this book exceptional. My 3-year-old son has fallen in love with this book immediatelly and comes back to it almost every day for over a year now. The pictures are lovely and make us laugh over and over. Toby has become something like a virtual member of the family;-) I wish there were more books for children like this. I have tried to follow up to Toby and get my boy another book of a similar kind of humor but have found it impossible for the moment...I highly recommend to anyone but you probably have to be an animal lover to fully enjoy;-)

Toby was a bad news dog. If there was any trouble to be had, he could

find it. He would chomp on books hanging out of knapsacks, he'd get

into the garbage, run out into the road, he ate "bread that Emma's dad

had just baked," he'd bark "in the middle of the night," he'd piddle

on the floor and he'd chew on buttons (of course the coat was new).

That dog had something rotten to do every day of the week. Of course

after he did something rotten, those big wide eyes just looked so

innocent. Sunday's were for rest and he looked like an angel.

By Monday he was right back at it. Emma's mom was fed up big time.

"Something has to be done about that dog!" Looked like he ate a

sneaker. Emma tried to pay a lot of attention to Toby so he'd behave,

but he was right back at it chomping crayons on Tuesday. For a couple

of days he was a good boy, but on Thursday he was right back at it.

"Something has to be done about that dog!" Looked like Toby was

headed to dog training school, but would he ever be the perfect pup or

would he still be up to his antics?

This is a hilarious book that every dog owner with a chewed up sneaker

or two can relate to. The illustrations of the Simpsonish looking

wide-eyed Toby (who only looks like an angel on Sundays) is adorable

and very appealing. This book will be one that is loved by both the

adult and the child. If you are a cat lover, you need not apply here!

Corinne Demas' ALWAYS IN TROUBLE pairs pictures by Noah Z. Jones with the story of a very bad dog who is always in trouble, wetting the rug, running into the road, and eating forbidden food. What's a owner to do? Fun drawings accompany Emma's attempts to turn a bad dog good.

This is a happy exuberant book that my two youngest grandchildren (5 and 3) simply love. They ask on a daily basis for someone to read it. They, too, have a dog, Columbo, who also gets into trouble: he chews on clothing, "steals" food, doesn't listen to commands that he understands perfectly well. It's a wonderful book for a grandparent to read aloud: it's lively, interesting, and lends itself to the inclusion of experiences from the listeners' own lives -- whether or not they have a dog. The five-year-old especially liked the ending and announced it was right: no one is perfect (which, I imagine, he's heard a few times himself). Plot, vocabulary, sentence structure, rhythm -- all make this charming story a pleasure to read.

What a great book! Our 3 year old daughter insisted on reading this book every night for weeks, and I didn't mind because it's so much fun to read (and she laughs out loud every time we read it). The story is very cute and the drawings are simply adorable. It's also got an interesting "twist" ending, but I won't spoil it. I'll definitely keep an eye out for other books by this team!

Most people see this book as being about a dog, and the trouble that a dog can get into. Yes and no. I see it as being about young children and the trouble they can get into. All the things Toby (the dog) does are things that energetic, curious, or naughty children might do, too. In this respect, Toby is a lot like Curious George: children identify with the animal protagonist, who is generally nice but often does bad things. And the downside of Curious George is also the downside of this book: there are never any real consequences for bad behavior, neither in terms of the harm it causes nor in terms of punishment. Perhaps such books teach children to act cute and get away with anything.

But I can't hold that against this book. It's simply too delightful and charming, and besides, virtually every other children's book has the same lack of consequences. We'll laugh at Toby's antics, and I'll teach her about consequences, and the difference between stories and real life, separately.

This well illustrated book is wonderful for teaching the days of the week. The days, in order, are repeated three times while you read this book in a very funny way. Highly recommended for this purpose alone AND it is a cute story.

The story involves a mischievous dog that wrecks havoc on a household. As a previous dog trainer I was quite shocked that the author indicated that the dog training school did not change the dog's misbehavior. This perpetuates an inaccurate and quite misleading myth that dog training is supposed to train the dog with no responsibility on the owner. In fact obedience classes trains people how to communicate with the dog. But dog training does not end at the end of obedience training.

If this is not bad enough, the story goes on that the dog trainer takes the dog home and gives it "special" training. Wrong, wrong, wrong!. This in fact would NOT change behavior as the dog would only respond to the trainer. No good dog trainer would ever recommend this. The owner is not taking appropriate responsibility for the actions of the dog and not learning how to obtain the dog's trust and respect -- You must establish yourself as the alpha in the pack by setting limits and encouraging positive behavior through lots of praise. Dog training requires patience, understanding, and most of all consistency and repetition. Clearly the author has never trained a dog nor did any research into dog training for the book. Children are taught from this book that they cannot properly communicate to a dog to discourage bad behavior and only a dog trainer can and that dog training school is a waste of time. This is a real shame as it was a unique opportunity to vanquish this myth and educate dog owners how valuable basic dog training can be.

Every year there are thousands of dog bites, with most victims being children and most are bit in the face. These tragedies, like so many others, can be avoided with some basic education and training. Dog bites are serious incidents and tragedies that result in long-lasting physical and emotional scars. Please do your homework and educate yourself, your children and your dogs about appropriate behavior. The only saving grace of this book is the adorable pictures. If not for that, I would've given it one star.