Title: James The Silly Dog
Author: Bob Sales
Publisher: Bob Sales Publishing
ISBN: 978-1-963379-40-2
Pages: 36
Genre: Illustrated Children’s Book
Reviewer: Beth Adams
Hollywood Book Reviews
Author Bob Sales has created a fun book about a family with 4 dogs, plus one more dog visiting, all frolicking, running, playing and eating together in his book titled, James The Silly Dog.
The interleaved full-page pictures bring readers to a sunny day at a farmhouse having the POV of the story narrated by James, a dog, who first introduces us to Snickers, Biscuit and Sammy. The silly behavior of James is that he likes to roll over in smelly stuff which makes him need a bath – “yuck,” he says. One funny incident is when this mean lady came to visit the farmers and when nobody was watching, she would roll up a newspaper and Wack the dogs on their snouts and yell at them. So, James pooped in her shoe – Haha – and she never came back.
But here’s the moral sequence which is told in a unique way. The visiting dog is a Great Dane named Shepherd. A big, beautiful black-and-white dog who speaks in his personified voice to the other dogs offering maturity and wisdom. The farmers have put out food for dinner – roast beef sandwiches, fried chicken, chocolate cake and Shepherd warns the other dogs not to eat the human food, or they will be sent to the barn without dinner! Well, one-by-one Sammy, Biscuit and Snickers all succumb to their dog-desires and pick up food off the serving table; and each one is disciplined by being sent to sleep in the barn without dinner. Only James listened to Shepherd and abstained from eating the family’s dinner food. In return, James was treated to leftovers after the family finished dinner. The moral is ever so gently woven into the story as to educate children to follow the guidance of the Shepherd, and their lives will be blessed. Pretty clever, huh?
James The Silly Dog has elements of humor, action, K-9 playfulness, and biblical wisdom which kids will enjoy time and time again while becoming dog lovers and we all know what “dog” spelled backwards is. A charming story about friendship, joy, and the magic of being true to your happy, silly self.