My Dog Never Says Please

By Suzanne Williams

Book Overview

We all know about sibling rivalry, but leave it to Ginny Mae Perkins to be jealous of the family dog! He doesn't have to say "please," he doesn't have to clean his room, or wear shoes, or deal with a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140567259
• ISBN13: 9780140567250
• Release Date: July 2000
• Publisher: Puffin Books
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.3" x 10.3"

Customer Reviews

My Dog Never Says Please

My Dog Never Says Please is as silly as Amelia Bedlia dusting furniture with dusting powder. First, you have a girl who acts, eats, and does everything like a dog. Second, you have her little brother correcting her on her manners. Finally, you get the girl to realize that she doesn't want to be a dog. I would highly recommend this book to any parent who wants to read to their kids. I also recommend this book to read to kids who need to learn that you may not want something you may just want it because someone else has it.

Great book for kids and adults!

I read this book at a house to children I was babysitting for. The children and I both found the book to be quite funny and requested multiple readings. I was more than happy to read this book again for them. It is a great book and I am going to order it for my neice for her birthday!

Gets the point across without moralizing

Ginnie Mae's got a tough life. Her ma's picky about things like saying please and wearing shoes. Her little brother, Jack, is so perfect "he ha[s] a little halo over his head." Her dog, Ol' Red, seems to have things a lot easier. "My dog never says 'please,'" muses Ginnie Mae, "and no one thinks a thing about it." Finally, after a night of being told to mind her manners, eat like a lady, clean her room, and put on her shoes, Ginnie Mae declares she'd rather be a dog. Humored by her parents, she moves in with Ol' Red, to a life of treeing cats, digging holes, sleeping in the doghouse, and begging for scraps. "Ol' Red's real good about sharing. . . I think he's even given me some of his fleas." Kibbles can't compare to her ma's cooking, however, and when it starts to rain, Ginnie Mae starts to reconsider her care-free lifestyle. "Pa says I can go back to being myself anytime I've a mind to. So maybe I'll just saunter on in and wash up for supper," she decides. This story has some great comic moments that make my four-year-old laugh out loud, and even bring a smile to his oh-so-sophisticated six-year-old sister's face. I like the fact that even though the story is told through Ginnie Mae's voice, Ma and Pa are presented as perfectly reasonable parents. More importantly, the author, Suzanne Williams, lets the story play to it's logical outcome without moralizing. She allows her readers to draw for themselves the conclusion that good manners are a fair trade-off for the blessings of civilization. Tedd Arnold's illustrations are priceless, adding wry humor to an already amusing story. He gives us Ginnie Mae at the dinner table, the food flying everywhere, and Ginnie Mae and Ol' Red sitting side by side on their haunches, scratching at fleas. Funniest of all is the teeth-baring grin Ginnie Mae gives her annoying little brother at the end of the book, and his startled reaction to it.