Mad Dog McGraw by: Myron Uhlberg

This book is great for kids that are afraid of animals, specifically dogs! I got attacked by a dog when I was in second grade and remember it vividly, but I am still a dog lover and appreciate animals very much. I liked this book because it gives the perspective of a little kid and how he sees this "mean dog" who growls at everything like trucks, storms, and chases kids and shows his sharp teeth. The boy devises a plan of how he is going to get past the dog and he creates stilts to walk on so that the dog can't get to him. The little boy needs an umbrella so he can sail right over Mad Dog McGraw. Eventually the little boy asks his parents for a cat and he tries to lure a cat to his house by using milk. When he brings the cat home, the dog actually is fond of the cat and they become friends. This shocks the little boy because he thought that the dog would not like the cat and would scare it away. The little boy was very confused at this point because this went against the prior knowledge he had about this mean Mad Dog McGraw. The little boy has a conversation with his mom about why the dog isn't very mean. I really liked this part of the story because the mom just responds "I wonder why" and the boy kind of figures it out all on his own. By having that conversation with his mom he was able to work out a problem in his head and decide that dogs really are not that bad. The illustrations are kid friendly and the text is also good for new emergent readers because there is a lot of repetition and small words. The pictures match up with the text as well, so new readers could easily use the pictures to help them out with words they are just learning.