From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 2—In this story that encourages animal adoption, a Portuguese water dog wanders the world in search of the perfect place to live. The stray encounters 10 fellow canines along the way, including a Newfoundland and Russian wolfhound in their homelands, a Shar-Pei at the Great Wall, and a dingo in Australia. None of their habitats suit him. Returning to his old neighborhood, the pooch reads a newspaper headline, "First Family Looks for Dog." He squeezes through the wrought iron gate and trots to the White House entrance, where he sits in front of an open door exposing two pairs of legs. A single line of text reads, "Daddy, Daddy, can we keep him?" The authors slam-dunk the story with an emphatic, "Yes, we can!" A view of the dog sprawled asleep on the Oval Office carpet follows. Bowers's realistic yet comic illustrations blend rich vistas with charming poses and great facial expressions. The endpapers give facts about each breed the pup met along the way. Curiously, a Portuguese water dog is not included. Lewis and his daughter dedicate their book to those in the rescue community and offer ways to help these organizations. This makes one willing to give the authors license and overlook the fact that the Obama dog did not come from a shelter.—
Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VA Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
If I'm going to blog about any book this month, I NEED it to be First Dog. I have such a passion for rescuing dogs and hearing stories about animals no one wants finally finding the perfect forever home, and this little book...this wonderful, magnificent book, takes a current, real story in our country, and turns it into a beautiful, lovely picture book, perfect for little kids.
First Dog is written by J. Patrick Lewis and Beth Zappitello and illustrated by the magnificent Tim Bowers. In it, we find a dog, traveling the world to find the perfect home. Along the way, in Newfoundland, England, China, Russia, and many other countries, the dog meets lots of other dogs, each with different talents and qualities of their own, but no perfect home for himself.
After arriving back in the States after a very long journey, the dog sees a newspaper article, telling of a very special family that is looking for their "First Dog," leading the sweet animal to go searching for this special family, thinking maybe HE could be their First Dog. Does he find his perfect, forever home? Why yes he does!!
Being that President Obama and First Lady Michelle have promised their daughters a dog to live with them in the White House, this adorable, lovable story has perfect timing! The illustrations are beautiful, the dog just plain cute. Encouraging families to adopt a pet, rather than purchase is a great message sewn into a wonderful picture book. Absolutely one of my favorite stories of the year thus far.
Fantastic! --Amanda Snow from apatchworkofbooks.blogspot.com
