Can I Be Good?

by Livingston Taylor, Ted Rand (Illustrations)

For a fun-loving young golden retriever, each day dawns full of potential adventures. But from morning till evening this lovable beast finds that his energy and curiosity always seem to lead him into mischief. “Obviously written and illustrated by astute golden retriever observers, this picture book is thoroughly irresistible.”-- Booklist

Genres: Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Amanda NEVER MANDY · Rating 5 out of 5]

My husband worked at an elementary school early on and the school library had a big clean out day. He brought home a stack of books, and this one became a favorite in a hurry. I think it was because we were a dog family, and my girls could easily relate to it because we had puppies that couldn’t stay out of trouble. We still to this day say to our dogs when they are being a bit too much extra, “Can you please be good now?”

Five stars to a book that tries its best at being good and totally succeeds.

[Emma Vargo · Rating 4 out of 5]

K-1st Fiction
A good book about self-control, or lack-of in the case of this dog. It can be a way to show students how they can control their own behavior and emotions.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my all-time favorite kids book. The dog is adorable, and you can tell the writer and illustrator love dogs. The words have a wonderful rhythm and the pictures are beautiful. My daughter loved this book, and I’ve given it as gifts many times. But unfortunately, it seems to be out of print. It’s even missing from Amazon! My question to the publisher’s is, Could you PLEASE reprint this wonderful book?

[Rehema Payne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about a golden retriever dog who tries to be good but is tempted throughout each day and is viewed as bad. This can teach children to have restraint when tempted to do certain "bad" things.

[Carmela Dutra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a sweet rhyming story, filled with big wonderfully illustrated pages. The story is about a young energetic golden retriever and each day is filled with adventures and fun, but as he learns it's difficult to be good no matter how hard he tries.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

He just wants to be good. Will he learn how? This book follows a puppy through a typical day.

[Marilyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Text was too simplistic.

[Siskiyou-Suzy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kinda encourages kids to not be good, but cute premise.