Bow Wow Birthday

by Lee Wardlaw

Maris and her friends have lots of fun at a party celebrating Rambler's one hundredth dog-year birthday until they realize that the pooch of honor is missing.

32 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1998

About the author

Lee Wardlaw swears that her first spoken word was 'kitty'. Since then, she's shared her life with 31 cats (not all at the same time!) and published 31 award-winning books for young readers, selling more than one million copies world wide. Her newest title is My Book of Firsts: Poems Celebrating a Baby's Milestones, illus. by Bruno Brogna and published by Red Comet Press/Abrams.

Lee's other books include Won Ton - A Cat Tale Told in Haiku, winner of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Children's Poetry Award and the Myra Cohn Livingston Poetry Award (among others); Won Ton and Chopstick, an NCTE Notable Poetry Book; and 101 Ways to Bug Your Friends and Enemies, recipient of the Forward National Literature Award for Humor.

Lee has a B.A. in Education, an AMI-Primary Diploma from the Montessori Institute of San Diego, and is finishing her M.Ed.

A former teacher, Lee continues to keep up-to-date with children, tweens, and teens by presenting frequently at schools, libraries, bookstores, and conferences. She lives in Santa Barbara, CA, with two dog-disdaining cats.

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars
A little girl throws a birthday party for her grampa's dog, who is turning 100 in dog years. The idea is fun, but the text is a little long to read aloud and the illustrations are pretty dated.

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story idea was a good one, but did not deliver. I did like that Jacob was always inserting play on words, although much like the story it falls unnecessarily flat. I strongly disliked that young Rosie makes 4 or 5 offers to bite another child for not conforming perfectly to their way of thinking.

[Baby Bookworm · Rating 1 out of 5]

This review was originally written for The Baby Bookworm. Visit us for new picture books reviews daily!

Summer Reading Day 25: Today’s pick was Bow-Wow Birthday by Lee Wardlaw. Hate to say it, but JJ’s expression about sums it up. While the premise of a little girl throwing a birthday party for her elder dog is sweet, the story itself was too long and the child characters were ill-mannered and irritating. Definitely skip this one.

Be sure to check out The Baby Bookworm for more reviews!