All about a mama dog and her puppies. Beautiful photos.

I liked this book and thought that it was very informative. The book starts by showing six small puppies with their mother. The front cover also displays a picture of the mother dog with all of her puppies. This book shows the growth of puppies over the first few months of their lives. I like the descriptive language throughout the text. For example, one page says, "They are tiny. Their eyes are closed. They cannot open them to see. Their ears are closed. They cannot hear. But they can taste. And they can touch and feel each other." I really liked this page because the picture matches what the words are saying. The picture shows a dog that has its eyes closed and appears to be sleeping and not noticing anything around it. I liked how the pictures on every page matched the words. For example, there is a page that talks about how the puppies suck on the mother's nipples for milk, and the picture literally is showing the puppies sucking their mother's nipples for milk. It is neat to see how the puppies grow throughout the story and how their demeanor and the way they act changes. An example of their growth is when one of the pages says, "They have a few teeth and can eat some solid food. But they still need milk from their mother. They go her if she doesn't come to them." As they are growing teeth and eating some solid food, this is showing their growth and slight aging as puppies. Another example of matching the pictures to the words is when the text says, "They run after each other." The page literally shows several pictures of puppies running. Social skills and growth are portrayed throughout the book as the puppies grow. Lastly, near the end of the story the mother leaves the puppies alone and starts to shy away from them. By the end of the story, the puppies are starting to be grown and then at the end you see one with a younger girl, and the last page says, "It can learn to be your friend."

The big idea/message of the story is that a dog is a man's best friend. This is evident at the end when it says, "It can learn to be your friend," with "It" referring to the puppy. Also, another main idea of the story was to show someone how puppies grow and give visuals of the stages that they go through as they age. Responsibility is taught and so is caring and love, throughout. ( )

3yrs.-6yrs.
I really like this book it explain at what age of the puppy is best to get it. The process of growing up, what they do, what they need, and how to help them to be healthy dog. I think it will be great for a children to prepare them when getting a dog for the first time. ( )