Caldecott Award Winning Book #1

The Stray Dog

by Marc Simont

This book was a Caldecott Honor book in 2002. It is based on a true story by Reiko Sassa, Marc Simont's friend. Reiko told this story to Marc in 1983 about his adventure of adopting a stray dog. This is a story about a stray dog that shows up at a family picnic. The little boy and the little girl in the story play with the dog all afternoon, and they name him Willy. The children want to take the little dog home with them, but the parents say that he must belong to somebody and that the owner would miss him. The family returns to the same location the following week to look for Willy, and they find him being chased by the dogcatcher. The little boy and girl claim the dog and get to take him home.

I enjoyed reading this story and the pictures were whimsical. This is a story every child who has a pet or wants a pet can relate to. It reminded me of a little dog I had when I was little named Speckles. The fond memories I have of playing with Speckles probably contributed to my favorable reactions to this book. I want to read this story to my kindergarten class when we study animals and have our Pet Day. I am sure that reading this book to them will spark many stories and writing about their own pets. I learned from this book that stories that our friends tell us can make really good stories to write, and that one doesn't always have to use personal experiences.