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A little boy imagines what life was like for his new dog before he adopted him from a shelter. Maybe he had a boy who loved him, but the family had to move and couldn't keep him. Maybe he belonged to someone who didn't appreciate how mischievous puppies can be. Maybe he was treated badly, and now he can be shown all the love he's been missing. This boy wonders about all of these things, but maybe they don't matter. Because now, his dog is home.Winner of the Humane Society KIND Children's Picture Book Award and the ASPCA Henry Bergh Children's Book Award, this touching story celebrates all who support, care for, and adopt shelter dogs.
Lexile Measure: 690L (What's this?)
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers (September 20, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 039924526X
ISBN-13: 978-0399245268
Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 0.3 x 9.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #55,381 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #34 in Books > Children's Books > Growing Up & Facts of Life > Family Life > Adoption #215 in Books > Children's Books > Animals > Pets #444 in Books > Children's Books > Animals > Dogs
Age Range: 4 - 8 years
Grade Level: Preschool - 3
I read this book to my daughter and I cried. It felt like this book was our family story. We lost Rebel after 14 years and rescued Sneakers from the SPCA soon after. My daughter asked a lot of the same questions as the boy in the book. I highly recommend this story to everyone.
This book is fantastic! I bought it for every child in my life. It urges people to rescue a shelter dog vs. buying from a pet store or breeder. I loved the artwork in this book as well!!!
This wonderful story for young children puts their "I wonder" inquisitiveness into high drive. A young narrator wonders what life was like for a dog recently adopted into his loving home. He asks all the questions I've wondered about my rescue dog, such as, "did you have another name -- like Gus, or Sam, or Teddy, or Howie, or maybe Miles -- before you were mine? / Was your boy proud when you learned a trick?"The illustrations are soft, colorful, and appealing to children, showing the dog doing typical dog antics. The illustrator, David Walker, keeps the illustrations cheerful, including those taking place in the shelter. Only a couple of illustrations are sad, when the dog wanders "alone and scared, like a dog shouldn't be," and the boy's memory of his last moments with his old dog. The author and illustrator quickly turn around the unhappy pages with positive words and pictures of the new dog being cared for and loved.Children who have recently adopted a dog will enjoy sharing the wonderings introduced in this story. However, be prepared to be moved to tears when you read it if you have experience with the larger picture of homeless pets behind this story. Not to worry for your young children though -- the book is celebratory rather than preachy about the benefits of adopting an older dog into your home.
I run a dog rescue and I am the program director for an animal advocacy non-profit and this book passed my very high standard for animal-related books for kids. It's done respectfully and thoughtfully and presents some serious issues in a gentle way. Great for humane education programs, too.
I was searching for the perfect book to introduce the issue of animal rescue for our service learning project and stumbled across Before You Were Mine. I cried the first time I read it to myself. As a preschool teacher it is very rare to find a book that is exactly what you need and want for a lesson. The questions the child in the story asks are perfect springboards for discussion. This was the best book to introduce our service learning project for our local animal shelter. It's not just for preschoolers, it would be the perfect book for almost any grade level because while the text is simple, the message is a big one.
Shared this story with an entire pre-school and the children loved it. It really touches people who have ever had a pet and/or care about animals.
I bought this book for my grandchildren and planned to keep it at my house so they all could get the story read to them. But I actually bought it for just one of them-- she was ours but we never met until she was 4. (sort of late to be a new grandbaby). I just wanted her and the others to know that altho we did not have her before, we had loved the idea of her since before she was ever born. This story is so sweet! The book arrived as promised and was in good shape. Thank you so much for writing this book. It would be great for families that have "blended"to accomodate children.And it teaches you can love someone you have never met. Oh. But here it's illustrated with dogs !
One of my daughters randomly selected this book from our library and as soon as we read it, I knew we had to have our own copy. It's a very, very sweet story and meant a lot to us since we recently adopted a dog from a shelter after saying goodbye to an older dog. I would recommend it for any family who loves dogs.
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