Please welcome my guest author today, Maria Gianferrari, with her holiday list of favorite dog and therapy dog picture books! She has a list of 10 picture books about dogs who help us through thick and thin.
Maria is a long-time rescue dog owner and this is an ode to all wonderful dogs, past and present, out there (mine included). We lost our dog, a wonderful Golden Retriever that we attempted to train as a therapy dog, a year ago and we miss him every single day.
We are giving away a copy of her newest book To Dogs, With Love, A Love Letter to the Dogs Who Help Us. To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter at the bottom.
How about you? What are your favorite dog picture books of dogs assisting humans? Thanks for sharing!
p.s. I have more dog picture book lists by Maria Gianferrari here:
Let’s Fete: Dogs and Mindfulness Tails
10 Hilarious Cat and Dog Picture Books
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Happy Howlidays! I’m celebrating the holiday season with the release of TO DOGS, WITH LOVE: A LOVE LETTER TO THE DOGS WHO HELP US, a loving ode to the myriad ways that dog love helps us heal. You’re going to be smitten with illustrator Ishaa Lobo’s sweet and tender illustrations! And if you like “Where’s Waldo,” look for cartoon versions of me and our editor, Emily Feinberg ☺.
Thanks to the generosity of Macmillan/Roaring Brook Press one lucky Pragmatic Mom reader can win their very own copy of our book (US addresses only—sorry!).
Let’s get this paw-ty started with some of my favorite new-ish dog/therapy dog books for the dog lovers in your lives with a Happy Howlidays Favorite Dog/Therapy Dog Picture Books list.
10 Picture Books About Dogs Who Help Us
Wonder Dogs, written by Linda Ashman, with the cutest of illustrations by Karen Obuhanych, is one pawsome book! Written in rollicking and fun-to-read-aloud rhyme, Wonder Dogs sings the praises of talented dogs, athlete-agility dogs who chase, crawl, and race; dogs with super-sniffer-snouts; helpers and herders; seekers and finders; guarders and guiders—we wonder at these talented canines. But our pet dogs are equally wonder-full, and showering us with love is their superpower.
Lita Judge is one of my favorite author-illustrators/book creators and people ☺. Her latest dog book, Dogs: A History of Our Best Friends, has delightful art and is an informative history detailing dog domestication, from ferocious predators to partners in tracking and hunting, herding, hauling, guarding, and working, to today’s family members and friends. And science proves what we already know: we are bonded by our love.
Do you have a child who wants a dog? Perhaps you’re trying to convince family members that it’s time for a new four-legged friend. Then Stacy McAnulty’s I Want 100 Dogs, with amusing illustrations by Claire Keane, is a must-read. Beginning with the cutest of endpapers, the girl main character proclaims that she wants 100 dogs in this silly and fun subtraction “tail.” 100 dogs become, 90, 80, 70, etc., when her parents ask how she would walk, bathe, train, feed, name, and clean up #2, for all of these dogs. In the end, she asks for just one dog, which she definitely knows how to care for! The ending is sweet and highly satisfying. The book is also a brilliant study in pared-back picture book writing, the power of the page turn, and clever comedic timing.
I love all of the Madeline Finn books by Lisa Papp, and Madeline Finn and the Therapy Dog definitely doesn’t disappoint! Madeline’s pup, Star, has been training and practicing to become a therapy dog. Now it’s time for Star to take his three-day test at Walker Oaks Retirement home. Star has to be calm—he can’t meet and greet the other therapy dogs, he has to stay still for a passing wheelchair, and when his ears and tail are rubbed; he has to ride in the elevator, and ignore the smash of a dropping plate of cookies. His calm presence and loving greetings bring joy to the residents, except for one, a sad Mr. Humphrey who sits alone in the corner. Madeline wants to make him smile too, and she has an idea. She sits nearby and begins to read; both she and Star connect with Mr. Humphrey whose late wife also loved books. Star passes the test, gets his heart-shaped therapy dog tag, and also wins Mr. Humphrey’s heart.
Don’t miss the other books in the series, Madeline Finn and the Library Dog, Madeline Finn and the Shelter Dog, and Madeline Finn and the Blessing of the Animals.
For a friendship “tail” based on true events, pause over the pages of Rescue and Jessica, by Jessica Kensky and Patrick Downes, with illustrations by Scott Magoon, and see how Rescue, a failed guide dog learns to become a service dog and friend to Jessica; and how Jessica welcomes Rescue and copes with the loss of both legs and learns to walk again with prosthetic limbs. A story that will cheer your heart, especially knowing that it’s based on Jessica’s real-life story as a survivor of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.
Sometimes we need therapy when we grieve the loss of our beloved pets. If you’ve lost a furry family member, this book will help mend your own broken heart, but grab the tissues before you read, Remembering, by Xelena González, with gorgeous and heartfelt illustrations by Adriana X. Garcia—one of my favorite books of the year. This powerful and poignant picture book shows how we can heal our hearts, remembering our beloved pets by constructing an ofrenda, an altar where we can place possessions that literally house our memories—photos, candles, collars, a dog bowl, to re-connect with our pets who have passed over on Dia de los Muertos. The color palette of orange and blue is soothing and comforting—I love how the dog’s absence is so present and so powerful that it is literally spilling out of the picture frames. If you’ve just lost your pet, your grief may be too raw to read this one right away, but it will be one that will stay with you.
Keep those tissues nearby! Lastly, in the spirit of staying, I will end with Stay: A Girl, A Dog, A Bucket List, written and illustrated by the Klise sisters, an all-time favorite book that I have oft recommended. I still weep every time I read it– it’s a moving book about the bond between a girl named Astrid and her aging canine companion, Eli, and a reminder that being present–enjoying memorable moments and time with those we love is the best gift/present we can give and receive.
If you have a dog (or a cat or a rat!) snuggle with them and give them a hug right now! Their time with us is far too short. I still miss my beloved Becca every day, and I have a permanent shrine dedicated to her memory. I just added a candle to it.
Many thanks, Mia, for allowing me to share some pawsitively pawsome picture book “tails” with your readers!
To Dogs, With Love, A Love Letter to the Dogs Who Help Us GIVEAWAY
We are giving away a copy of her newest book To Dogs, With Love, A Love Letter to the Dogs Who Help Us. To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter below. We can only mail to U.S. and A.F.O. addresses.
For Maria Gianferrari, dog love is the most pawsitive medicine of all! To Dogs, with Love is Maria’s seventh book featuring beloved canine characters, following Being a Dog: A Tail of Mindfulness, Operation Rescue Dog, Hello Goodbye Dog, Officer Katz and Houndini, and the Penny & Jelly series.
Ishaa Lobo is a Children’s Book Illustrator living in London. She is the illustrator of The Mystery of the Love List by Sarah Glenn Marsh; To Dogs, with Love by Maria Gianferrari; and There’s Always Room for One More by Robyn McGrath. Her next book, Bigfoot’s Big Heart, written by Sarah Glenn Marsh, will be released next year. In her spare time, she likes to visit galleries, go to the cinema, and go on walks. See her work at ishaalobo.com.
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My books:
Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World
- Junior Library Guild Gold selection
- Selected as one of 100 Outstanding Picture Books of 2023 by dPICTUS and featured at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair
- Starred review from School Library Journal
- Chicago Library’s Best of the Best
- Imagination Soup’s 35 Best Nonfiction Books of 2023 for Kids
Amazon / Barefoot Books / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Amazon / Scholastic / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Thanks so much, Mia & happy howlidays!!