George the Hero Hound, by Jeffrey Ebbler, was one that came in the mail from a publisher in exchange for our honest review. It’s due to be released on March 20, 2018.
Both Sherry and I were drawn to the front cover. As dog lovers, we thought it would be fun to read this one aloud. We were correct! Between cow pyramids, runaway tractors, and other odd events, the kids were in giggles most of the time!
As we finished George the Hero Hound, we realized that this isn’t a book we would need to explicitly “teach.” Sometimes there are books that are just fun! These fun read alouds still are still important tools to model fluency and reading strategies like making predictions or asking questions for our listening students, but in our experience, not every book needs to be picked apart. Part of the fun of this book was the sound track of giggles from little listeners. Hearing them chuckle and point out absurdities in the pictures, feeling sorry for the dog who can’t get his nap in, and making connections to their own lives was all part of the fun. It was amazing to see the variety of connections students had to this story. If you REALLY wanted to connect George the Hero Hound to something in your curriculum, you could easily have students do some fun writing about their own pets, how their pets got their names, or life on a farm.
Please note that George the Hero Hound is not a “read once” kind of book! This is a “read the book a few times to catch everything that is happening” book! The illustrations are quite captivating and engaging, and kids will love poring over them again and again.
Enjoy the read!
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