My kids love dogs and stories involving dogs, and the other Pinkerton books are no exception. "Pinkerton, Behave!", however, features a burglar creeping into Mom's bedroom at night and holding her at gunpoint! Pinkerton coming to the rescue notwithstanding, this is much too frightening for my children. I would argue that such visuals are inappropriate for children of picture-book age, period. The fun and humorous elements of the plot could easily have been acheived without portraying such creepy and violent image, and I am disappointed in the author as well as the publishing house for their choices in creating this book.

I went to the library with my 4 year old son and just grabbed the book. We have read Pinkerton stories and have always loved them and I didn't even look through the book or even much at the cover until that night when we settled in for night time stories. I then realized that there was a "robber" with a gun on the cover. I thought to myself, "How did I not see this before?" and by then it was too late. My son saw it and had a zillion questions so we read it. I was shocked by the content! We are very open with our son about anything he asks and I explained that yes, there are "robbers" and yes, people do get into dangerous situations like that. I felt very uncomfortable having to almost outright lie to him and tell him that, "No, noone will break into our house because we lock our doors, etc..." How else do you explain this to a 4 yo at bedtime?! We got through it and son loved the book. I thought it was very cute that Pinkerton was confused but could have done without the break in part. I feel it could have been as cute without that. Very irresponsible in a child's book, but I guess I learned a lesson to read the books before we check them out even when they are written by someone you consider "safe".

This is a book about Pinkerton...a fun-loving great dane pup that does things his own way. He's fun, he's happy, he's huge, and he doesn't seem to be able to learn a thing. When he's sent to obedience school he helps the other dogs unlearn everything they've learned, and he gets kicked out! (Hope they got their money back.)

But when it's crunch time, Pinkerton's owner knows what to do to help the family.

Join the fun by reading this wonderful book. I read this book LOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG before I had any children of my own...now it's a favorite of the whole family.

5 stars all the way for Steven Kellogg's "Pinkerton, Behave!" It has a great storyline, wonderful illustrations, and is a good time for all. This is the book that made me a Steven Kellogg fan way back when.

I urge you to give it a try. You's love it (so will your children)!

Alan Holyoak

A legend about a boy who falls out of his family wagon as they are crossing the country. He is forced to raise himself in the wide open west and learn how to protect his life.
This was an ok book from my point of view. The illustrations were amazing they really kept my attention. However, the writing was nothing too spectacular. The story of Pecos Bill is one of adventure and I just didn't feel like this version of the story captured the really adventure of the legend. This book sends the message of standing up for yourself and never giving up on your dream. I think it did a good job of getting the message across and my second graders knew what the message was as soon as a closed the book.

This mild, but event-filled re-telling of the Pecos Bill story lacks the incorrigible air of tongue-in-cheek humour and bold-faced lies of the typical tall tale. However, and especially if your young`uns never heard a tall tale, the wonderful illustrations will partially make up for this. When we started to read this book, we thought those sweet-faced, round-eyed, snub-nosed cowboys looked a little familiar: this guy is the same feller who illustrated HOW MUCH IS A MILLION? which we like alot. My boys love the snake lasso, and we return many times to the fantastic "critter" that Bill wrassles into submission. But breaking-in "Widder-maker" is an let-down after that adventure, I am afraid. I recommend Adrien Stoutenburg`s AMERICAN TALL TALES for older children (9-12yrs) which has few illustrations but whose style is far better suited to the dramatic and poetic nature of the tall tale genre. My seven-year old loves to hear me read those aloud.

This version of Chicken Little is too convoluted and politically correct for my enjoyment. I enjoy a twist on an old tradition sometimes, but this was too different for me. It was a brand new story.

If you are looking for the old fashioned "The sky is falling, must tell the King" then don't buy this book. The book you are looking for is titled "Henny Penny". Both books depict the same chain reaction of hysteria and are both well written. But, if you want the one that you remember from many moons ago, get Henny Penny.

No, this isn't the traditional version of Chicken Little. It is, however, sly, funny, and well written and illustrated. As an adult, I really appreciate children's books that have a sense of humor and a vocabularly that's not "dumbed down." Our copy of this book goes in a bookshelf in my room so it doesn't get ripped up any more than it is already--I want to make sure I have a copy of this one for keeps.

Kellogg's version of Chicken Little deserves to be as much a classic as "The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig." It makes a great gift--too many kids have bookshelves filled with colorless Disney rehashes that parents dread reading aloud. Books like this one are one of the best ways to help kids learn that reading is entertaining and satisfying.

Obviously from the German style of fairy tales, this book is beautifully illustrated, but somewhat horrifying for adult sensibilities. Children, however, did not seem nearly as horrified as the adults who read this book, suggesting the pictures of Madeline burning alive in her apartment was just part of the moral for them. An interesting read although not one I could wholeheartedly recommend to be read to children.

I found this book sort of funny. The farm animals decide to move in with the family. After a while the family moves into the barn. The book has good color and drawings. Its a interesting book to read. So read it!

Mark C