Week 3 - Dr. Dog.

Hello there!

Ryan here again. I have just finished reading Dr. Dog by Babette Cole. Considering I was read this book as a young boy, it was almost exactly as I remember it. Presenting a very quirky and odd story, saying things like "Never scratch your bum and suck your thumb". Although saying this out of context sounds rather odd, reading it through the story promotes hygiene to young readers in a way that is both entertaining and fun. It also helps overcome the fear held by most children dealing with how doctors can be seen as scary and are most often associated with pain. Considering Dr. Dog is a doctor that makes house calls, also being a very loving beagle, helps to overcome some of these thoughts and notions. The pictures were also very well done, having lots of warm colours surrounding the characters and their environment. The best part in my opinion however, was how the book ended on a fart joke.

Reading this book to young students years 2 - 3 would best suited, allowing them to become familiar with some of the words in the story. As far as individual reading goes this might be good for students 3 - 4. There are some tricky spots that they could find challenging, but with the visual aid of the pictures they would overcome them with little difficulty. The story of this book is also excellent at stimulating the imagination of students, simply due to the wacky idea of a dog being a doctor.

The next book I'm going to read is The Wolf's Chicken Stew by Keiko Kasza, which was recommended by my sister who is a teacher of year 3 students! I'm looking forward to reading it.

Until next time.