Dogs Are Our Best Friends in an Entertaining Chapter Book Filled with Adventures and Creative Doggy Drawings

Fans of Bea Garcia will be delighted with this new chapter book with fun adventures experienced by Bea and her best friend Sophie. Sophie is Bea's dog and dog lovers will relate to the fact that Bea considers Sophie to be her best friend. Deborah Zemke adds entertaining black and white cartoon-like illustrations to the story that young readers will enjoy. Tale of a Scaredy Dog is a fun book for ages 6-9 that makes a great transition to chapter books.

Sophie comes to live with Bea and her family. Bea's brother is a pest and Sophie protects Bea from her brother. Bea considers her neighbor Bert to be a monster and she wants Sophie to protect her from Bert. Bea must go to Bert's house to do homework and she decides to take Sophie with her. Bert has a large cat that immediately goes after Sophie and the chase is on. Sophie runs through the neighborhood and is lost. Bea searches high and low for several days and begins to think that Sophie will never come home. Sophie might be lost forever. She prepares Lost Dog posters to share all over town. Bea's pesky brother comes up with a surprise solution that he thinks will finally bring Sophie home. They implement the plan and wait to see if it will work. Young readers will find this new chapter book to be a page-turner to find out if their plan to get Sophie home works. Sophie finally comes home and the family is reunited. Bea is thrilled to have her best friend hoome again. She is now able to finish her "Dictionary of Dog" that she had started before Sophie was lost. The "Dictionary of Dog" is a creative addition to Tale of a Scaredy Dog. Each word from the dictionary has its own black and white illustration along with the definition of the word.

Tale of a Scaredy Dog was published by Dial Books for Young Readers, a division of Penguin/Random House Young Readers. It has an ISBN of 9780735229389 and is recommended for ages 6-9.

Chapter books are always a great addition to a classroom library. Tales of a Scaredy Dog is a fun new chapter book that can be introduced to young readers ages 6-9 who are ready to make the transition to chapter books. Young readers who are fans of Bea Garcia will find this creatively illustrated story to be a page-turner.

*Read Tale of a Scaredy Dog in a group reading session with one or two chapters being read each day. Young readers will enjoy remembering the previous day's adventures as each new chapter is read.

*Call attention to the fact that Bea includes her best friend Sophie the dog in her everyday activities. Bea draws pictures of all the activities that Sophie participates in.

*Make a class chart of students that have a dog in their family. What activities do the family include the dog in? Have any family dogs ever run away?

*Allow the students to draw pictures of their dogs and activities that they do with their dogs.

*Call attention to the "Dictionary of Dog" that is included at the end of the story. Read the vocabulary words that Bea includes in her doggie dictionary and the meanings for each word.

*Create a writing assignmnt for your students to create their own "Dictionary of Dog". Skills of alphabetizing words and writing meanings for their words make an engaging learning activity.

*Bea creates a doggie snack for her dog Sophie. Prepare a recipe for the doggie snack to use as a cooking activity for your class. Create a rebus recipe card with the ingredients for Peanut Butter Cookies and directions for preparing this delicious snack for dogs. A rebus recipe for cooking is a fun way to expand the reading skills of young readers. Peanut butter is a healthy treat for dogs and peanut butter cookies make a safe and healthy treat for dogs. Students can take a cookie home with them to share with their dog.