No Dogs Allowed!

by Bill Wallace

After losing Dandy, her family's beloved horse, Kristine decides that she will never get close to another pet again. It's just too heartbreaking. So when her father surprises her with a new puppy for her birthday, Kristine is furious! With a new sister on the way, who need a wriggling, messy, noisy yellow ball of fur to look after? But how can an animal-loving girl resist the sweet brown eyes of a puppy that just wants to be loved?

Genres: Animals, Childrens, Middle Grade, Dogs, Fiction, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2004

About the author

Bill Wallace was an American teacher and later an author of children's books. He started writing to quiet down his fourth grade students, who loved his stories and encouraged him to make “real” books.

Bill Wallace grew up in Oklahoma. Along with riding their horses, he and his friends enjoyed campouts and fishing trips. Toasting marshmallows, telling ghost stories to scare one another, and catching fish was always fun.

Bill Wallace has won numerous children's state awards and been awarded the Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award for Children's Literature from the Oklahoma Center for the Book.

Bill Wallace died from Lung cancer on January 30, 2012.

Former elementary school teacher; West Elementary School, Chickasha, OK, principal, since 1977, and physical education teacher. Speaker at schools and universities in various states, including State University of New York and University of South Florida.

AWARDS:

Bluebonnet Award from Texas Association of School Librarians and Children's Round Table and Sequoyah Children's Book Award from Oklahoma State Department of Education, both 1983, Central Missouri State University Award for Excellence in Children's Literature, 1984, and Nebraska Golden Sowers Award from Nebraska Library Association, 1985, all for A Dog Called Kitty; Central Missouri State University Award for Excellence in Children's Literature, 1984, and Pine Tree Book Award, 1985, both for Trapped in Death Cave.

Reviews

[Maggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is amazing. Bill Wallace sure knows how to write.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kristine Rankin, her parents and two younger sisters live on a farm near her grandparents, Papa and Meme. When Dandy, a beloved horse, dies from old age, Kristine is heart-broken. But, life goes on and Kristine is expecting her 11th birthday to be filled with surprises. Little does she know that her grandparents are going to surprise her with a new puppy. When Mattie, the puppy, is presented, she is full of anger and resentment. She does not want another pet who she will become attached to and then leave her and die and bring her sorrow once again. While not physically abusive to Mattie, she ignores the puppy and is cross with her. Papa is disappointed and angry with her for neglecting Mattie. But when a crisis arises, it is Mattie who comes to the rescue and comforts and consoles Kristine in her sorrow. Kristine comes to love the puppy and is willing to accept any sadness that may come in the future for all the happiness she gets in the present.

[Ramsha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember this book being my first real big chapter book in third grade and I fell in love with it.
This book made me fall in love with reading!

[Joyce Yattoni · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a book recommendation by a couple of my students who love horses and dogs. I think for Jenna it had been a very meaningful book for her. I enjoyed the book especially the close family relationships between the protagonist Kristine and her grandparents. I loved that most of the story takes place on a farm and that the families do simple things like make homemade popcorn and sit down for meals as a family.

The main conflict is that Kristine, a middle schooler, is finding it difficult to overcome the loss of her horse Dandy. The puppy that is purchased as a birthday gift for her is ignored and generally not treated very well by Kristine. This is a story about loss and having the courage to love again.

I would recommend this book to readers who have their own pets, or who have lost special pets and what it is like to deal with it. This is a quick read.

[Alisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book had my kids in tears over and over. The point at the end was okay but I was tired of the re-hashing of the same heartache.

[Luke Berger · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was great

[Margie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a story for children . An eleven year old girl has a beloved horse die and she can't get over the heartbreak. She is gifted an adorable puppy she doesn't want and doesn't love at all and pushes it away all the time. She doesn't want to love something that could die.

[Mackenzie Wilson]

This week I read a cute book called "No Dogs Allowed" by Bill Wallace. The book starts off talking about losing Dandy, her family's beloved horse, Kristine decides that she will never get close to another pet again. It's just too heartbreaking. So when her father surprises her with a new puppy for her birthday, Kristine is furious! With a new sister on the way, who need a wriggling, messy, noisy yellow ball of fur to look after? But how can an animal-loving girl resist the sweet brown eyes of a puppy that just wants to be loved? Of coarse, she cannot as it turns out at the end of the book, she falls in love with this puppy despite her best efforts! This book is sweet because I am an animal lover! I would recommend this book to any young readers who love dogs or animals.

[Ritawegner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a girl who's horse died. Then she gets a dog for her birthday, and she doesn't want it, because if she starts loving it, she'll be sad when it dies. It's a very good book.



-Rita Wegner

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in 3rd grade it's really good!!!! I recommend it to peopole that like dogs.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book for dog lovers..... really good.. if you haven't read it, READ IT!!!

[Ms.session]

i learned that you should accept any thing any body give you

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

- Kristine really loved her moms horse named Dandy. Every time she gets off the bus to go to her grandparents house she can see the trails that Dandy used to walk. For her birthday Kristine’s grandpa gets her a puppy but Kristine isn’t too thrilled about it. She tries to not get attached to the puppy cause she is afraid it will leave to just like Dandy. Once while feeding the pup it started scratching her legs so she started to head back inside when the puppies leg got caught in the door. The puppy was fine but needed a cast. Kristine starts ignoring her friends at school and hiding under her bed when she gets home to cry. Her grandparents came to visit and Kristine wanted to show them that she had trained her pup to which her grandpa left immediately. Kristine chased after them in the driveway and her grandpa said that the dog is plain scared of her and that is why it’s obeying her. Kristine gets upset with him and tells him to take the dog back if he thinks it’s so scared of her which he does. Weeks later they go over to her grandparents and have dinner and it’s revealed that her grandpa isn’t doing to well and doesn’t know how much time he’s got left. A couple days go by and Kristine gets a slip at school saying to take the bus home to her grandparents cause her mom has to take the newborn to the hospital. Kristine gets off the bus and is on her way up the driveway when she notices that no one appears to be home. She goes in the pasture and sees her grandpas truck running and thinks the worst has happened. When she can’t find anyone she starts calling anyone she knows but no one picks up. She then runs out to the pond and after a few hours is found by her puppy and a classmate. The classmate, Matt Green, tells her that everyone has been looking for her and that the puppy knew exactly where she was. They head home to find her grandparents had been to the ER cause her grandma hit her head while making cookies and needed stitches. The puppy went back home with Kristine and everyone was fine. { it was confusing reading with Meme and Mama being used constantly to describe her grandma and mom. the sudden attitude change with her grandpa was odd i felt like out of the blue. the description of the blood was very graphic i felt like for a kids book. the story plot was bland and who names a dog Matt? }

[Elyse V · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am reading the book No Dogs Allowed by Bill Wallace. This book is about Kristine and her new dog named Madi. Since Madi is a new dog, she is not very well trained, this requires a lot of extra training by Kristine. At first, Kristine wasn’t a big fan of Madi but throughout the book they became good friends.

The author made it easy for me to keep reading the book by keeping Kristine's emotions in my head, and how losing Dandy reminded me of losing a lot of my cats. He also kept me reading because I wanted to see what would happen to Kristine and Madi, and how the book would end with all her emotions and everything going on.

I would recommend reading this book because it is not really hard at all and that it is a little cheesee. I liked the book for how it was and how the characters were fun to read about the most interesting part was when Kristne didn’t want to have a pet of any kind to replace Dandy. The book was kind of predictable because if I had lost a pet then got a new one right away I would not be that happy.

[Micah Haines · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book because my 12 yr old daughter wanted me to read it. She is really into dogs and I can see why she enjoyed it. The 11yr old female protagonists struggles with the loss of a horse. The loss causes her to not love a puppy given to her by her grandfather. The book goes through tween emotions with family, friends, a boy and the puppy. Finally at the end of the book she ends up loving the puppy. This book is definitely for a 10 to 12 year old girl who loves dogs and might be struggling with loss.

[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick read with my oldest daughter. Bill Wallace is a cherished author I’m thankful I got the opportunity to meet when I was a young girl.

This story is so sweet. We both were teary eyed by the end. It’s the story of a little girl and her struggle to become close to her dog after losing a beloved pet. It’s a beautiful story about helping cope with death and how to allow yourself to love again after losing a special part of your life.

[Gabriel Nasser]

From 1-5 I will rate this book 4 because it was really good. I learned new words and it was really interesting. Something that was interesting in the book was how the girl accepted the dog. I think this book is part of my hero’s journey because I learn new words and reading open my mind. This book changed me as a reader because now I read faster and I understand more words each time I read more. I would recommend this book to people that like books without drawings.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a kid, I adored Bill Wallace books. I wasn’t aware about this one coming out as I was in college, so when I saw it on the library shelf, I snagged it.

It was just as much a book to love as the others that I remember. Very glad I took a trip back to those days and cozied up with this book.

As soon as I finished, I handed it to my daughter, who is going into 5th grade.

[Avery Spangler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book for the first time a few years ago and recently went back and read it again. It is a heart warming story of a girl trying to fight off love, because she is scared to be hurt ( by an animal😉) I would definitely recommend you read this book.

[Kaylee Pye · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was the first one that I ever read by myself as a child and it created my love for reading and writing. I don’t even remember what the book was about but I know for years after that I said that it was my favorite. :)

[Brianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love this book

[Jaylie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was better than I expected. The characters are likeable, and the story is pretty interesting.

[Hannah S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book, except for the part where she is really mean and borderline abusive to the poor dog.

[Lexi Faith Carlson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally Bill Wallace book where the main character is a girl!

[Cena Rhodes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmm not my favorite Bill Wallace book. Too heavy on drama and not enough puppy.

[Maxspeed · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is good

[Princess · Rating 5 out of 5]

it was amazing but also so sad that when it was her birthday that she did not want the dog that her dad got her and im a animal lover how could i resist such a thing i would never

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't like how Kristine was mean to Mattie. I didn't like how she hurt her as well.

[Aida · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a lot of emotional complexity in this book regarding grief, family dynamics, and friendship.

[London Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave this book a four star rating when i first read it, but thinking back on it, there was nothing wrong with it, it was just a kids read, so i lowered the rating.