Kids' Fruitcake Reads: My Big Dog

We go to the library at least twice a week and the girls generally check out 20 books a week.  There is rarely any rhyme or reason to how we pick out books:  Gwendolyn and Maggie both pull a few books off the bookshelves and put them in the bag, then Keary and I wonder around and pick out additional books that look interesting or have a catchy title.  

Sometime we wind up with books we like to read, sometimes we wind up with books the girls like and are interested in.  Other times we pick up books that we can't even get through because there are too many words. (Don't shake your head, you know what I am talking about:  the books with multiple entire pages of blocks of text and lack of illustrations.  The girls are 4 and 1, we have to keep their attention.)  Or sometimes the books don't have any words, Keary isn't keen on those.  Then there were the couple weeks in a row where we repeatedly picked up multiple books on dealing with divorce because either Gwendolyn or Keary didn't read the titles and put the books in the bag based on cover picture.

So I thought since I already have Fruitcake Reads here, I would also include a Kids' Fruitcake Reads section and update it when I find a book we particularly like.  And maybe if there is a book you have found, you can recommend it to me.  Please?

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Maggie picked out My Big Dog by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel based solely on the fact there was a dog on the cover.  We put in the bag and I didn't think she would remember a thing about it, but when we got home, she pulled it out and insisted I read it.  And read it again.  And again.

The story is told by a cat named Merl who has had the run of the house always, but then one day his family brings a puppy home.  He is none too happy about it and decided to run away.  

The story is cute and  I liked the attitude of Merl.  The illustrations are vivid and detailed so that even if the page is long, there is enough going on the picture that the girls don't lose focus and start trying to turn pages early.

We like this story enough that we have kept it for an extra two weeks and I haven't grown tired of reading it yet.  Which is good, because Maggie requests it read at least twice a day.