Summary: This story is set in 1951 during the time of the Korean war. While men are off fighting in the war, Leandra and her two friends are dealing with a war of their own against their neighbor's dog, Tippy Lemmey. They are harassed by this dog every time they walk or ride their bikes past the house. The kids try coming up with a plan to stop Tippy, but nothing works. Leandra and her parents go over to talk with Mr. and Mrs. Lemmey about the situation. They meet Tippy, who now seems less fearsome than before. One day while taking an escape route to avoid Tippy, the kids come across two men who have captured Tippy and other dogs in their truck to sell. Even though Leandra does not like Tippy, she feels that what the men are doing is wrong, and she goes to rescue the dogs. However, it starts raining hard, and the kids get stuck in a flash flood. Tippy goes to Mr. and Mrs. Lemmey to get help, who make it back to rescue the children. After such life changing events, Tippy and the children become great friends, and all fears disappear.

Genre Critique: This is a good example of a historical fiction, because the plot and characters are true to the time period of the story. The story portrays a realistic picture of what it would be like to be an American living during the time of the Korean War, and how families were affected by it. Mr. and Mrs. Lemmey were watching Tippy, their son's dog, while their son was off fighting in the war. At one point in the story, the reader sees true emotion expressed by Mr. Lemmey when he thought that something bad had happened to his son. The story brings attention to a real historical event through the eyes of fictional, but realistic characters.

Characterization Critique: Leandra would be considered a dynamic character. She begins as someone who is terribly fearful of Tippy Lemmey. She considers him her enemy and she runs away and rides her bike as fast as she can just to escape from him. Her character goes through a lot of visible growth as the story progresses. After a series of events, Leandra realizes that Tippy Lemmey is just a harmless puppy who wants to play. Leandra is believable, because many children have childhood fears that they grow out of once they gain experience and realize that what they are afraid of cannot harm them.

Tippy Lemmey is the story about three African American children who are tormented by a mean neighborhood dog for several months. One day the rambunctious dog, Tippy Lemmey goes missing and the children discover he'd been stolen. Although Tippy was a pain, the children chose to save him.

I enjoyed this book. The antics of Tippy Lemmey and his interactions with the chilren remind me of the pesky neighborhood dogs I had problems with as a child.

In the classroom, this book would be a good eample of multicultural literature. I would also reccomend this to a child who is fond of dogs. ( )

A pretty cute story. ( )

week 25