Bill, our BLG reader this week brought in a fun and engaging story, ideal for reading aloud: Dog in Boots written by Greg Gormley and illustrated by Roberta Angaramo. And yes, you are right to be thinking,  “Hey this reminds me of another story . . .” The dog in Dog in Boots is reading a story about a cat who wore a pair of “truly magnificent boots” and it inspires him to take a trip to his local shoe store.

Dog first finds some absolutely magnificent boots just like the ones in the book but finds out that when digging, the boots got muddy and looked quite awful. Rain boots seemed great but filled up with water and made him sink to the bottom of the pond. Next he tried flippers (not so great for scratching), then high heels (“Oh I would like those,” commented one student), then skis (not practical) until the shopkeeper finally pointed out to him that paws were the perfect thing he needed for everything! Dog was thrilled! Then later when reading a book, a lovely red hood on the main character of his storybook caught his eye . . .

Our student reviewers report:

Truman: I like it when the dog kept changing shoes. I wonder if the dog is going to go to a coat shop and keep changing coats?

Catriona: It was very funny about a dog who wanted boots to do one thing and then finds out they can’t do another. So he gets boots to do that instead. The lesson was sometimes what you have is best.