My Dog Never Says Please [Hardcover]

Suzanne Williams (Author), Tedd Arnold (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up

Tired of having to mind her manners, clean her room, and wear shoes, Ginny Mae wishes she could trade places with the family dog.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

We all know about sibling rivalry, but leave it to Ginny Mae Perkins to be jealous of the family dog! He doesn't have to say "please," he doesn't have to clean his room, or wear shoes, or deal with a tattling little brother, or ...

The solution: Ms. Perkins moves to the dog house to see how the canine half really lives, and discovers that "a dog's life" is far from the ideal existence it appears to be from the human side of the leash. Especially when there are pork chops for dinner.

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3. Ginny Mae is enjoying her meal. Chewing with her mouth open, dribbling gravy, licking her plate, she annoys the rest of her family. To make matters worse, her pip-squeak brother antagonizes her. If only she could be like the family dog, Ol' Red, life would be a lot easier. Ma and Pa eventually sympathize with her plight. However, after joining Ol' Red in the doghouse, she begins to have second thoughts. This mildly humorous story is adequately illustrated with Arnold's comic cartoons, prepared with colored pencil and watercolor washes. Parallels between Ginny Mae and Ol' Red running, eating, scratching, and more, enliven the text. Although children may identify with the girl's feelings, Jane R. Martin's Now Everybody Really Hates Me (HarperCollins, 1993) is a better story about being misunderstood.?Mary M. Hopf, Los Angeles Public Library
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Dial; 1st edition (May 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803716796
• ISBN-13: 978-0803716797
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,038,040 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gets the point across without moralizing, June 12, 2000

By 

K. Bennett (Rolla, MO USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Dog Never Says Please (Hardcover)

Ginnie Mae's got a tough life. Her ma's picky about things like saying please and wearing shoes. Her little brother, Jack, is so perfect "he ha[s] a little halo over his head." Her dog, Ol' Red, seems to have things a lot easier. "My dog never says 'please,'" muses Ginnie Mae, "and no one thinks a thing about it." Finally, after a night of being told to mind her manners, eat like a lady, clean her room, and put on her shoes, Ginnie Mae declares she'd rather be a dog. Humored by her parents, she moves in with Ol' Red, to a life of treeing cats, digging holes, sleeping in the doghouse, and begging for scraps. "Ol' Red's real good about sharing. . . I think he's even given me some of his fleas."

Kibbles can't compare to her ma's cooking, however, and when it starts to rain, Ginnie Mae starts to reconsider her care-free lifestyle. "Pa says I can go back to being myself anytime I've a mind to. So maybe I'll just saunter on in and wash up for supper," she decides.

This story has some great comic moments that make my four-year-old laugh out loud, and even bring a smile to his oh-so-sophisticated six-year-old sister's face. I like the fact that even though the story is told through Ginnie Mae's voice, Ma and Pa are presented as perfectly reasonable parents. More importantly, the author, Suzanne Williams, lets the story play to it's logical outcome without moralizing. She allows her readers to draw for themselves the conclusion that good manners are a fair trade-off for the blessings of civilization. Tedd Arnold's illustrations are priceless, adding wry humor to an already amusing story. He gives us Ginnie Mae at the dinner table, the food flying everywhere, and Ginnie Mae and Ol' Red sitting side by side on their haunches, scratching at fleas. Funniest of all is the teeth-baring grin Ginnie Mae gives her annoying little brother at the end of the book, and his startled reaction to it.

5.0 out of 5 stars My Dog Never Says Please, October 14, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: My Dog Never Says Please (Picture Puffin Books) (Hardcover)

My Dog Never Says Please is as silly as Amelia Bedlia dusting furniture with dusting powder. First, you have a girl who acts, eats, and does everything like a dog. Second, you have her little brother correcting her on her manners. Finally, you get the girl to realize that she doesn't want to be a dog. I would highly recommend this book to any parent who wants to read to their kids. I also recommend this book to read to kids who need to learn that you may not want something you may just want it because someone else has it.

5.0 out of 5 stars My Dog Never Says Please, October 14, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: My Dog Never Says Please (Picture Puffin Books) (Hardcover)

My Dog Never Says Please is as silly as Amelia Bedlia dusting furniture with dusting powder. First, you have a girl who acts, eats, and does everything like a dog. Second, you have her little brother correcting her on her manners. Finally, you get the girl to realize that she doesn't want to be a dog. I would highly recommend this book to any parent who wants to read to their kids. I also recommend this book to read to kids who need to learn that you may not want something you may just want it because someone else has it.