Reading to Peanut

K-Gr 2—Lucy decides that it's time she learned how to read and write. There is something she wants to do and needs those skills to do it, but she's not telling anyone what that is. Lucy draws pictures, and Mom and Dad supply the printed words, but Peanut the dog usually eats the paper. When Lucy and her mother plant a vegetable garden, they make signs for each row, but the pup digs everything up and eats the signs. The garden has to be replanted. While it is growing, Lucy keeps working on her reading and writing. When the vegetables are harvested, she makes a cake that she puts in her pet's bowl. She then makes a birthday card for him, showing everyone that she can now read and write by herself. The illustrations are done in acrylic, gouache, and colored and pastel pencils. The cartoon characters have big heads, skinny necks, and small arms and legs. The joke of the dog eating all the paper goes on a bit too long and the big event that readers have been promised doesn't quite satisfy.—Ieva Bates, Ann Arbor District Library, MI