My Dog Never Says Please

ANNOTATION

Tired of having to mind her manners, clean her room, and wear shoes, Ginny Mae wishes she could trade places with the family dog.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

As far as Ginny Mae is concerned, her dog—Ol' Red—has got it made. He eats with his mouth open....and doesn't get yelled at. He runs around barefoot....and doesn't get yelled at. He leaves his stuff wherever he wants....and doesn't get yelled at. And he never, ever has to say please. So one day, Ginny Mae decides to join him. And what follows is a hilarious take on a dog's life—from a little girl's point of view.

"The broadly funny cartoon pictures capture the silliness of this tale." —Kirkus Reviews

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Subtly detailed with a mass of squiggly colored pencil lines, Arnold's (Green Wilma) cartoon illustrations bring a fresh, edgy goofiness to a familiar theme: the child who is fed up with the obligations of civilized life. Ginny Mae wishes she could live like her pet dog, Ol' Red, who never has to say please, never gets told to clean up his room and never gets corrected by a bratty little brother. When her parents grant her wish, she discovers that a dog's life is not all it's cracked up to beshe gets fleas, has to eat kibble and is bedded in a leaky doghouse. Williams (Mommy Doesn't Know My Name) aptly expresses Ginny Mae's frustrations and longings, couching the narrative in a relaxed, countrified cadence ("Pa says I can go back to being myself anytime I've a mind to"). Arnold's exuberant drawings triumph on every page. His characters' big round eyes and faces register each emotion like comic seismographs, and his depiction of Ginny devouring a slice of cherry pie as a dog would is a wonderful piece of visual slapstick. As for Ol' Red, it's easy to see why Ginny Mae identifies with himArnold has created the epitome of gangly, blissfully brainless canine contentment. Ages 4-8. (May)

Children's Literature - Meredith Kiger

Ginny Mae is tired of minding her manners, cleaning her room and doing all the other things kids are told to do. She wonders out loud to her mother why her dog Ol' Red never has to do anything and wishes she were him. Ginny Mae's parents comply with her request and she is banished to the doghouse and treated thusly. It doesn't take long for Ginny Mae to change her tune. Exaggerated illustrations perfectly accompany this story of outrageousness.

School Library Journal

K-Gr 3Ginny Mae is enjoying her meal. Chewing with her mouth open, dribbling gravy, licking her plate, she annoys the rest of her family. To make matters worse, her pip-squeak brother antagonizes her. If only she could be like the family dog, Ol' Red, life would be a lot easier. Ma and Pa eventually sympathize with her plight. However, after joining Ol' Red in the doghouse, she begins to have second thoughts. This mildly humorous story is adequately illustrated with Arnold's comic cartoons, prepared with colored pencil and watercolor washes. Parallels between Ginny Mae and Ol' Red running, eating, scratching, and more, enliven the text. Although children may identify with the girl's feelings, Jane R. Martin's Now Everybody Really Hates Me (HarperCollins, 1993) is a better story about being misunderstood.Mary M. Hopf, Los Angeles Public Library

Kirkus Reviews

Dogs don't have rules of etiquette to follow, and Ginny Mae is envious. Ol' Red gets to chew with his mouth open, lick his plate clean, and snooze in his doghouse all day, while Ginny Mae is constantly told to mind her manners. In a fit of anger, she finally tells her family she's moving in with Ol' Red. It's great, for a while, but by the end of the book she's thinking about inviting herself inside for dinner. While the broadly funny cartoon pictures capture the silliness of this tale, they treat the colloquialisms of the story generically, and don't address the folksiness of the text. Still, enough readers have probably coveted their pet's setup to provide this switcheroo with a large human audience.