K-Gr 2-Brimming with positive energy-smiling faces, wagging tails, and even a "happy dance," this book outlines a series of "Don'ts" for young owners of puppies. End pages introduce the pencil and watercolor art with colorful sketches of multiple dog breeds, leading to a description of happy and healthy dogs, scenes of possible unhappy training disasters, and the "rules" for new puppy owners. Hang gliding, playing the tuba, playing with a remote control, driving the family car, or walking a sleeping dog are all ruled out as unacceptable activities. Most are common sense, but the images of possible results reveal the ridiculous and a child's sense of play. A group of new owners err while allowing their puppies to juggle the dishes during clean-up, sending their puppy to buy groceries at the store, or leaving her at a café. Highlighted "Do" pages quickly outline attentive and proper care of a new puppy and how to become best friends. VERDICT This book offers lighthearted, humorous information for households with new pets or works as an introduction to class discussions on pet responsibility. Consider for general purchase.-Mary Elam, Learning Media Services, Plano ISD, TX © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A pair of siblings discovers things to avoid with their new puppy.The brown-skinned siblingsoverjoyed to have a new puppyare instructed by an unseen narrator that though puppies are generally "lovely," there are some "simple rules" to follow in caring for one. What follows is a list of hilarious don'ts: don't teach her to play the tuba (the pup happily sticks out of the bell of the tuba and barks); don't take her to the library (the puppy merrily barks while one smiling child shushes her and an unimpressed adult looks on); don't let her juggle dishes (a smiling pup balances dishes on her nose, the kitchen floor littered with broken crockery)these are just a few. The "don't" activities range from the everyday (chasing butterflies, going to the swimming pool, gardening) to the extreme (hang-gliding). The children and puppy are all adorable and full of joy, and the watercolor, pencil, and print illustrations capture a sense of child- and puppylike energy and glee. Even when one child appears concerned about the puppy's antics, the other is usually laughing, and the puppy is ever jubilant. The penultimate spread is a montage of do's that include cuddling, loving, and playing, and the ultimate spread is a touching depiction of the siblings and puppy embracing, their affection clearly evident.It's particularly wonderful to see black children partaking of the joys a pet bringscharming and delightful. (Picture book. 3-7) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

This is set up as a guide for the proper care of a new puppy, and it does eventually get to that, but first comes a litany of mostly far-fetched activities the titular things not to do with a puppy. Readers are advised against hang gliding with a puppy, or letting her drive a car or wash dishes. Walking her to a football match or taking her swimming might be OK in some cases. To counter the above, essential nurturing practices cuddles and plenty of food, water, and exercise are featured on the final pages. Breezy illustrations in a loose, sketchy style show the puppy and her two companions a brown-skinned boy and girl having a blast while partaking in the illicit activities, which could make this a hard sell. Thankfully, most children will already know what's not appropriate. Like the other two titles of this ilk from McAllister and Sterling 15 Things Not to Do with a Baby (2015) and 15 Things Not to Do with a Grandma (2016) this is designed to amuse rather than inform.--Enos, Randall Copyright 2017 Booklist