My Dog Never Says Please

by Suzanne Williams, Tedd Arnold (Illustrator)

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

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals, Dogs, Family

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name

Reviews

[Keith Skrdlant · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel does an incredible job building empathy for the protagonist: the dog never says please, why should she? You follow along on this frustrating, tragic tale of a girl treated so unfairly, and it's captivating every step of the way, ultimately leading to one of the most shocking reversals in modern literature.

My one critique of the prose is that the third act feels a little rushed, especially in comparison to the rest of the otherwise perfect story.

[Savannah Crider · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really cute book. It is written for an audience of children. The storyline of this book is about a girl named Ginny that gets aggravated with her parents always pushing her to use her manners and wear shoes, etc. so she decides she wants to be a dog. Her parents let her go outside barefoot and find scraps to eat and Ginny soon starts to wonder if she has made the right decision or not. I believe the meaning behind this book is that whatever you are mad about, it could always be worse.

[Katlin Sims · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is so cute and a great funny story about manners. Ginny Mae wants to live like her dog, Ol' Red, and not be bothered with manners and doing what her parents say. In an effort to ride herself of rules, Ginny Mae embarks upon an adventure to live life like a dog - even if only for a day. A great activity to do with this would be to make a chart with "good manners for dogs" and "good manners for people" and ask each child to contribute on good manner for people or dogs.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I saw and read this through a storytime video on Youtube. The main character is rude and displays a horrible example of table manners or otherwise. The illustrations are awful as well. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone.

[Makenna Wheeler · Rating 4 out of 5]

ATOS: 3.2
Guided Reading: L
6+1 Traits: Voice and Ideas

This is a cute book and would be good for discussing manners.

[IUS F19 Hannah Pearson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book would be good for first through fourth graders.

[Maggie Harshaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

DRA Level: 20
Lexile: AD490L
Applicable Traits: ideas and voice.

Geared towards a young audience I think this book can be used well in interactive readings. Readers can guess what is going to happen next and discuss in groups.

[Alejandra Tinoco · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is hilarious because a young girl wants to be treated the same as her dog. She gets frustrated when her parents tell her that she needs to have manners. Interesting way to teach children their manners and how to be polite to people around them.

Six Traits: Ideas, Voice, Sentence Fluency

AR Level: 3.2
Lexile: AD490L

[Courtney Heard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this is a fun book for kids to read when it comes to learning manners and why we have manners.

Six + 1Traits: idea, voice
DRA Level: 20
Lexile: AD490L

[Luke Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Accelerated Reader BL: 3.2
Lexile: AD490L

I like this book because it is relatable for kids and has fun illustrations. I don't have any desire to read it again anytime soon, but it is a pretty good book.

Characteristics: Voice

[Mikaela Fu · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book talks about one of the manners that people in our society uses. This book adds a fun twist on teaching kids manners.

Lexile Measure- AD490L
Guided Reading- L

Six Traits plus one- ideas and word choice

[Emily Clare · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't my favorite book. However, it is a book that teaches manners - could be good for reading aloud to kindergarten or first at the beginning of the year, and maybe 3rd or 4th grade silent reading?

Lexile: AD490L
ATOS Book Level: 3.2
Interest Level: Lower Grades (LG K-3)
AR Points: 0.5

Six+1 Traits: Ideas and Voice

[Kay Mcgriff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book elicited lots of giggles as we read it together. Ginny Mae is tired of being told what to do. She has to remember to say please, use her best manners at dinner (chew with her mouth closed and use her napkin), clean her room, put on shoes. Through it all, her pesky little brother Jack points out that he does all these things. She also looks enviously at her dog Red, who doesn’t have to do any of these things. Why couldn’t she be a dog? Ginnie Mae gets her wish and moves into the yard with Red, who even shares his fleas. I love the imagination that spills across each page–and the hope that leaves the door to the house open any time Ginny Mae wants to come home.

[Caitlin Barclay]

This book is another example of writing how we talk. The author shares with us the setting by including the Southern accent that the characters have. The southern accent also adds to the humor of this persuasive story. Although the dog is a dog, I think that most students would connect to this story due to the fact that their life is rules by rules!This is a great way to introduce persuasive writing and also the idea of manners and why dogs don't have them!

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This cute little story has VOICE. You just can not help but read it with a southern drawl.

In this story, Ginny Mae Perkins decides that her dog Rex has a pretty sweet life. No one makes any demands on ol' Rex. She decides to become a dog. A funny story, funny pictures and a great bedtime story!

[Sheri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still looking for a book to read to students and get them interested in persuasive
paragraphs. They like the idea of being without manners. Ginny is pretty headstrong
and decides her dog does it best. But she decides things aren't greener in the dog's
house with the dog food.
Don't think this book will be good example to kids about saying please and being
polite, but is funny to the readers

[Kelci Cox-Griswold · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a cute book. It has some great voice and expression because it is written with an accent. It could be used to teach kids about manners. It could also be a fun way to teach persuasive writing.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

This a very fun book and I am sure exactly what my parents would say to me if I said I wanted to be a dog. The pictures are good and the story is fun! My co-worker and I laughed through the whole thing. Great book to talk about manners or just a fun book to read!

[Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

manners, being polite, family life with a dog

[Shelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ginny doesn't understand why her family is always hounding her about manners. The dog doesn't say please, thank you, or has to clean his dog house. Maybe life as a dog would be better?

[Magila · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5