Book Review: Puppy School (dogs, puppies, school, brother and sister)

Puppy School: What Happens When Dogs Come to School? (Puppy Patrol #14 of 46) by Jenny Dale (Scholastic, 1998, 110 pages, $3.99, grades 2-5, ages 7-10)

As are all of Jenny Dale’s dog novels for kids in the Puppy Patrol series, Puppy School has several stories going on at once with one main one that starts late but gains momentum rapidly.

Puppy School stars the usual brother-sister due in England of Neil, 12, and Emily, 11, (and little Sarah, 5) who live at a boarding kennel/dog shelter with their parents and actually get along with each other. And, as usual, the kids outshine the adults! And teach them lesson after lesson (other kids learn their lessons in life, too, and apologize and grow but the reader identifies first with Neil and also with Emily).

In Puppy School, mother Carole is bitten by a dog the kennel is boarding and loses her connection with, love for and comfort level around dogs, replaced by fear and distance that only young Neil ‘treats,’ albeit surreptitiously (with classical conditioning a la Pavlov!)

And then we have Neil’s and Emily’s school with a beloved teacher and a grumpy principal, Grumpy Grundy! And we also have elementary school students who start a petition drive when they are told their classroom animals are no longer permitted. And the girls are given the directive that they must wear dresses or skirts – pants, no longer. Even I would rebel!

But dogs come into play everywhere and are woven into this multi-faceted story because Neil walks his teacher’s dog who is about to have puppies. This poor fatigued favorite teacher also has a new baby in the house and. . . .

How the kids change the rules back at the last minute and learn that Dalmatian puppies are born ‘spot-less’ even if they give birth in a school classroom is a convoluted breathless plot that all kids will enjoy (and the dog bite subplot is educational, a teaching moment about the facts of life, not all of which are a bed of roses but nevertheless spark discussion).

(DogEvals has reviewed other books by Jenny Dale: Trick or Treat, Top Dog, About Charlie. . . , and Tug of Love)