Customer Reviews

Before You Were Mine

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I read this book to my daughter and I cried. It felt like this book was our family story. We lost Rebel after 14 years and rescued Sneakers from the SPCA soon after. My daughter asked a lot of the same questions as the boy in the book. I highly recommend this story to everyone.

This book is fantastic! I bought it for every child in my life. It urges people to rescue a shelter dog vs. buying from a pet store or breeder. I loved the artwork in this book as well!!!

This wonderful story for young children puts their "I wonder" inquisitiveness into high drive. A young narrator wonders what life was like for a dog recently adopted into his loving home. He asks all the questions I've wondered about my rescue dog, such as, "did you have another name -- like Gus, or Sam, or Teddy, or Howie, or maybe Miles -- before you were mine? / Was your boy proud when you learned a trick?"

The illustrations are soft, colorful, and appealing to children, showing the dog doing typical dog antics. The illustrator, David Walker, keeps the illustrations cheerful, including those taking place in the shelter. Only a couple of illustrations are sad, when the dog wanders "alone and scared, like a dog shouldn't be," and the boy's memory of his last moments with his old dog. The author and illustrator quickly turn around the unhappy pages with positive words and pictures of the new dog being cared for and loved.

Children who have recently adopted a dog will enjoy sharing the wonderings introduced in this story. However, be prepared to be moved to tears when you read it if you have experience with the larger picture of homeless pets behind this story. Not to worry for your young children though -- the book is celebratory rather than preachy about the benefits of adopting an older dog into your home.

I run a dog rescue and I am the program director for an animal advocacy non-profit and this book passed my very high standard for animal-related books for kids. It's done respectfully and thoughtfully and presents some serious issues in a gentle way. Great for humane education programs, too.

Shared this story with an entire pre-school and the children loved it. It really touches people who have ever had a pet and/or care about animals.

"Before you were mine," by Maribeth Boelts was a "stumble upon" that touched me with it's voice and authenticity. I think it will allow readers and their young listeners to explore the difficult topic of abandonment with hope and humor. Boelts doesn't pull any punches, which makes the happy ending all the more pleasing. This is great storytime material for pre-schoolers to pre-teens.

I work for 2 dog rescue places and was curious if there were any books about this subject for kids.
I really enjoyed this book. The pictures were sweet, and the story was well-written. It's nice that there are books like this to encourage families to go to rescues or shelters instead of buying a dog from a breeder or from a pet store.
I recommend it for anyone that loves dogs.

I loved every bit of this book - the illustrations are great and the story is told in a way that any child or adult can understand.

This book was so sweet and innocent. I cried. I used this at "Story Time" at our local Animal Shelter, it was a big hit. It showed the shelter in a positive light. It is a very nice book to share with children, gives them a lot to think about. I definately recommend it.

I've read a lot of children's books about dogs, many of which I've really enjoyed as an adult reader. This is written in a really thoughtful, age-appropriate manner. It gets young readers to use their imaginations and think about what life was like for their pets "before you were mine," without preaching about it or being scary. I have an idea of what life was like for my dog "before she was mine," and it's not a pretty picture. This book does an excellent job of addressing the wonderings that a child might have about the life of his/her pet "before s/he was mine."

Matilda Mae: The Dog Who Needed a Name