Perfectly Martha

Written and Illustrated by Susan Meddaugh

HMH Publishing, 2004

34 pages

Animal Stories: Fiction

     I am a huge fan of dogs. I am also a fan of giving dogs human names. I also really like Alphabet Soup. (Read the story!) Martha is a talking dog and she plays detective in the story by ratting out a corrupt dog trainer and saving the day for her fellow canines and the poor mislead humans!

     The illustrations were done in pen and watercolors and they are really cute! These illustrations really add so much to the story, word bubbles and all! The text weaves in and out of the pictures that they depict. The colors are very bright and saturated, on a white background.

     I would recommend this book to an older classroom. Fourth grade and up should understand the clever wit in the story. They could research the history of dog training, and the differences between the human brain and that of a dog's brain. They could also make up several different scenario's of how the story could have gone. This books has received no awards.