When Ribsy manages to get out of the car at a shopping center, collarless, he ends up going on many adventures before being reunited with his boy, Henry Huggins.

I read all of the Ramona and Henry Huggins books as a kid, so this was a reread for me as I read it to my niece, who enjoys the Ramona books and is also a huge dog fan. This one is mostly told from Ribsy's perspective, though we do get some chapters catching us up on what the Huggins family is doing to try to get the dog back. The whole idea of putting a lost and found ad in the newspaper may have to be explained to kids today. Other than that the lost animal finding its way back is a classic story, and this one holds up well. Cleary does a great job of writing things in a way that a child and adult can both relate to, and I especially laughed over the way Ribsy thinks about using "patience" with young children. ( )

A pretty cute story story about the adventures of a lost dog. More fun than Ann M. Martin's A Dog's Life. Not as deep as Because of Winn-Dixie.

One unintentionally hilarious thing about this book is that everyone calls hot dogs "weenies." ( )

I remember reading this as a child and being completely in the moment with Ribsy during all his adventures. Re-reading as an adult, I still had fun with his story, but the realism of Henry Huggins and Ramona slips here a little. For the most part, Ribsy behaves as a dog, but I suppose it's hard to tell a dog's story without anthropomorphising (is that a word?) him a bit. Have I mentioned how much I adore Louis Darling's illustrations? ( )

Independent Reading Level: 1st to 5th grade.

Awards: None.

4.5 stars

This is a really cute story about a dog who gets separated from his owner (a young boy) and tries to make his way back to him. It details all the people he meets along the way and the crazy situations he gets himself into, and it's mostly told from the dog's perspective.

My favorite part was when he accidentally goes home with the wrong family, which has four young girls, and they try to give him a bath. The dialogue was incredibly realistic!

There were a few parts here and there that could have been slightly condensed, but overall this was a fun read that my 6- and 8-year-old nieces really enjoyed!

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