Hardworking Puppies

Reiser, L. (2006). Hardworking Puppies. San Diego, CA: Harcourt.

Brief Annotation: Ten puppies decide they want to get jobs and one by one, they each become a hardworking puppy with an important new responsibility.

Genre: Fantasy, Picturebook-Counting book

Grade Level: Pre K through 2

Readers who will like this: Children just learning to subtract, children who like stories with dogs

Response/Rating (1-4): 4, The book has colorful illustrations and simple text that let children count the number of dogs as each page is read. There is also a summary of subtraction on the last page. In addition, there is a “paw notes” page describing each puppy’s job. It is a wonderful way to conclude the story and informs children about the important roles that dogs have in the world around them.

One question you would ask before a read aloud: “How many puppies do you see on the cover of the book? What do you think are the puppy’s jobs?”