The Five-Dog Night [Paperback]

Eileen Christelow (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up

When Old Betty tries to advise Ezra on how to survive the cold winter nights, Ezra rebuffs her concerns because he has his own private source of warmth.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

PW praised the "crisp" pacing and "well-pitched" dialogue in this witty story about two crusty New England neighbors. Ages 5-9.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 2-Elderly Ezra, who lives alone with five dogs, is often visited by his neighbor, Betty. He thinks she's a busybody, but the dogs always welcome her, possibly because she brings them cookies. As winter approaches, the old woman worries about Ezra and takes him a blanket. He has no use for it because the colder it gets, the more dogs he takes to bed with him. Betty checks up on her neighbor one time too many, and he tells her to leave him alone. Come spring, he misses seeing her. He bakes cookies and walks the dogs down the hill only to find that Betty has acquired some dogs of her own and has adopted his trick for keeping warm. The watercolor illustrations give readers comfortable, homey, grandparenty characters and bumbling, cuddly animals. At times Christelow allows the illustrations to tell the story. It's a doggone, good tale that points out if you can't lick 'em, join 'em and that you don't know what you've got until it's gone.
Joyce Richards, Prairie Grove Elementary School, AR
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Sandpiper (September 21, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395928621
• ISBN-13: 978-0395928622
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.8 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,068,812 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Eileen Christelow has created numerous fun and funny picture books, including the Five Little Monkeys series, Author, and most recently, Letters from a Desperate Dog. She and her husband, Ahren, live in Vermont. For more information visit www.christelow.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ezra has five dogs., December 9, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Five-Dog Night (Hardcover)

Ezra has five dogs. Betty comes over every day rain or shine to visit him and his dogs. Usually she gives them cookies but Ezra really doesn't care for her to come over. When all the dogs see her they bark and go down the hill to greet her. Then it started to snow. Then Betty started to drive her car up the hill to see them. She usually brought them (in the winter) hot cocoa and cookies. She tried to be kind and bring Ezra a quilt when it got colder, but he said no because it was not too cold. It was only a three or four dog night. Betty didn't know what he meant when he said that. One day Betty thought it was so cold she came over to make sure Ezra was alright. She walked in on him sleeping, and all of his dogs on him. Ezra got mad at her and Betty said that she would never come over again. Ezra began to get lonely when Spring came so he baked cookies for Betty and went down the hill to see her. To his surprise she said that she didn't need him as a friend, she had bought dogs of her own. Then they went inside and ate cookies, had tea and lived happily ever after.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Five-Dog Night, January 31, 2006

By 

Sarah E. Pergrossi "dancing grandma" (Trenton, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Five-Dog Night (Paperback)

My first graders fell in love Ezra and Betty. Their friendship crosses all age levels. The humor of using dogs to keep warm was quickly understood the children. This selection provided us opportunity to discuss settings and in-depth character anaylsis as Ezra changes from our first meeting through to the end of the story. I highly recommend this text for use in any classroom. It's a new favorite of our room!

5.0 out of 5 stars The Book The Five Dog Night, October 18, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Five-Dog Night (Paperback)

This is a story about a man and he has five dogs he doese not like his neighbor because she bugs him so she proves that she is better so she gets her own dogs this is a good book you should read it.