10 Books to read to your children about Dogs

If you have children and the are passionate about dos, you will be interested to know which are the best books on dogs for children to read this weekend.

Why read books on dogs for children is one of the best things we can do this weekend? We answer in three points.

Reading is one of the most beautiful activities, exciting and at the same time relaxing that exist in the world. Opening a book, leafing through its pages, throws us into a fantastic world, which, although realistic, still lives only in our imagination and between the lines of that story. A book is a means of transport for other places, far (sometimes not too far) from the world and the context in which we find ourselves. Like travel, in fact, a book has the ultimate purpose of making us discover something that we didn’t know before; teach us the different besides us; let us live a type of reforming experience that transforms all that we are, so that there are no similarities between the person who read the first page and the one who reads the last.

Reading is really nice, yes, but for those who love animals, and especially dogs, there is nothing better in the world than savoring the narration of a book that speaks almost exclusively of our four-legged friend. Fido’s hidden world, his thoughts, his language, the way he faces his battles, what he feels, what he perceives and what he feels: all this and much more can be seen, savored, slowly learned from books on dogs.

There is an additional level that can make the moment of reading an even more extraordinary time: read to our childrenif we have children, younger siblings or grandchildren who are still young. Reading the books on children’s dogs for our human puppies is the best way to spend this intellectual pastime: if on the one hand we are carrying out an activity that pleases us, it makes us feel good and at ease, because reading stories about dogs has a positive and comforting effect on us (as our animal friends have); on the other, by reading for others and in particular for children, we improve the quality and value of our hobby, sharing moments and passions and also introducing children to understanding of these fantastic universes of literature and mental travel.

Dog books for kids: 10 to read this weekend if you love to read, love dogs and have children

Whereas even when it comes to a so specific topic (dogs) the genres can be infinite and the writing styles as well as the narrative techniques, finding a beautiful book or not depends purely on the personal tastes of each. There is no single model, a clear dividing line between good and bad; there is no mathematical formula, and therefore no precise algorithm, to objectively, absolutely and objectively, determine whether a book is the best or worst in a category. It is up to the reader to determine it.

Having said that, we only offer you those books best sellers that have already had a great response, almost completely positive, and that before anything else they propose, succeeding, to make children discover the world of dogs, with tenderness, with delicacy and with an appropriate language, simple to decode and understand.

Here are the top ten dog books for kids to read to your kids this weekend.

1. The story of a dog who taught a child about loyalty by Luis Sepùlveda

This book, one of many with animal protagonists that came from the mind of the Chilean-French writer, author of the most famous “Story of a seagull and the cat who taught her to fly”, tells the story of a strong bond of friendship and loyalty that binds a wolfhound and a child of the South Chilean Mapuche tribe.

The dog’s name is Auffman (in Mapuche language it means “faithful and loyal”); the baby’s name is Aukaman (means “free condor”) and, growing together, they even share the same breast milk.

This story, like all of Sepùlveda, is a moral slap to superficiality and, with the softness and warmth typical of a father’s touch on the head of his child, he explains what is beautiful in diversity, how it can be appreciated and, above all, why it is important.

2. Black Dog by Levi Pinfold

Same message, more or less, of Sepùlveda, but transmitted in a different way, focusing the narrative on the mechanisms that push not simply to feel far from different, but even to be terrified of it. Lack of knowledge can often lead people (this thing, in fact, happens in all animal species) to fear the unknown, to be so afraid of it that they do not even want to find out if their terror is justified or not. And fear often leads to hatred, as the great Master Yoda teaches us, which in turn leads us to that “dark side” of our being that manages to make us do scary, meaningless things. Among these absurd actions is judging without first understanding, using violence without having been attacked first and hating with all our strengths a black Dog without ever having done anything to us before, just because popular beliefs warn us.

If you want to teach your child (or brother, or grandson) not to listen to stupid things and only develop the critical judgment of his reason, then this is the right book for you.

3. The book of dog breeds for children (they are all dogs) by Amber Richards

The Richards ebook aims to introduce the existence of different dog breeds, listing their names, appearance, behavioral characteristics, history and various curiosities about them. In this way, in a certain sense, it also introduces the delicate theme of diversity, opening the mind to a universe in which, although the breeds have all their peculiarities, are part of the only large set of the canine species: they are simply “dogs”, regardless of what makes them different, this is the reality.

It could be a forcing, but knowledge does this: it is not power, as many people improperly pronounce; knowledge of something is an open door that allows our mind not to remain closed within solid, robust and impassable boundaries, but leaves it free, to extend and relax.

Know the dog breeds it is not only a curiosity that is satisfied, therefore, but a real discovery of the world around us.

4. Lives of illustrious dogs by Sébastien Perez

Speaking of books on dogs for very special children. Nursery rhymes and illustrations, this is the book of Perez, made for children, but also designed for adults, who with the same lightness of a rhyme that is made up can make, through the lines in verse of these pages, a journey to discover the most fantastic stories that have had dogs protagonists.

These puppies have all entered history, for one reason or another; and now we are accompanied by them on the same adventures that made them famous animals, feeling the same things and feeling the same emotions.

The illustrations, then, are nothing more than an incredible tool to convey a fantastic message, made of chiaroscuro pencil passages.

5. Dog’s life. Guide to the happiness of animals and children by Marina Morpurgo

He is a guide who wants to properly instruct us on what is the secret world, interior, of all puppies: in this particular case, the volume is a window open to the introspective universe of dogs and children.

The protagonist is the dog Blasco, who is also the main narrator of the story. The puppy tells us about himself, how his coexistence with humans is, how he coexistence with other dogs. In a short time, we discover many things about him and, in addition to learning about him, we also understand what are the engines that drive him to go on, to be happy. Then we also discover that, after all, dogs are not so different from children, on the contrary: they represent two celestial bodies that cohabit within the same galaxy.

Understanding the world of Blasco will make us understand the inner world of our children. And this is the first step towards happiness.

6. The wonderful wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Toto, maybe we’re not in Kansas anymore, this is one of the most famous quotes from cinema, but it is from a book that it was taken. “The wonderful wizard of Oz” opens the saga in fourteen volumes of Oz, created by writer L. Frank Baum became famous thanks to the countless cinematographic transpositions. The most famous film is undoubtedly the one in the form of a musical in which the enchanting Judy Garland plays the role of little Dorothy, who together with the dog Toto it is transported by a hurricane to the fantastic world of Oz, directly to the country of the mastiffs. From then on, he met a whole series of incredible characters: the witch of the North, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, the cowardly Lion, the ugly and bad witch of the West.

Almost all the characters are looking for something, while the character of the little Toto, who in the film is played by a dog of breed Cairn Terrier, represents that innate instinct that tries to keep us away from any danger and teaches us something important also on the path to becoming mature and able to look after ourselves.

7. The stink dog by Colas Gutman

This very nice story remembers the parody of “Lilly and the Wanderer” , book version and with some small elements of diversification. Let’s say the inspiration must have taken it from Disney classic, of course, but Gutman has been able to add innovative, fun and irreverent elements, which make this little novel a light and really pleasant narrative to read.

8. Dog stories for a girl by Dacia Maraini

This is a collection of memories, sought and discovered with the same tender joy of a child who has an intuition and obtains a conquest, for the little Flavia who had asked Maraini to tell her stories about dogs. To please the child, the writer then does not invent anything, but finds it in the maze of her memory moments of extraordinary normalitytimes when he crossed paths with a puppy and learned something from him.

We can say that these stories teach us how a dog (or how in this case, various dogs) can change a person’s life, simply by colliding with it.

9. Lightning a brave dog. The resistance told to children by Anna and Michele Sarfatti

Brilliant, moving and suggestive: this book is an idea, perfectly made, to communicate the life of the partisan during the years of the Resistance to the little ones. To do this, use the gaze of being the most simple, sincere and honest of all, the dog.

Lightning, in fact, is found within the real events that disturbed the Italian territory during the Second World War and, in particular, in the last years of the conflict, to follow his master in the dangerous adventures who will eventually see them victorious.

The story may be perceived by someone as a rather boring subject of study, but this genre book (although the protagonist is clearly invented) is a useful and effective tool for children to learn, passionately, a fundamental chapter of our past.

10. The call of the forest by Jack London

Jack London he wrote a children’s book about a hero dog which has enchanted adult readers. Thanks to its simple language, fluid and flowing writing style, all pages can be well understood by a child; on the contrary, the profound message that cries ideals such as freedom, the search for identity, the struggle against destiny and the need to fulfill oneself as individuals worthy of respect and love, calls to the heart the attention of all those who have past adolescence for quite some time.

The London book, therefore, has something to give to anyone, at any age, as long as you are empathetic enough to put yourself in the shoes of Buck, the brave half-breed dog, a little Saint Bernard and a little’ Scottish shepherd.