Ragweed's Farm Dog Handbook

by Anne Vittur Kennedy, Anne Vittur Kennedy (Illustrator)

Overview

“Kids won’t be able to get enough of this goofy dog who’s smart enough to know on which side his biscuit is buttered.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)

Being a farm dog is a tough job. But luckily, Ragweed’s handbook will tell you everything you need to know. Step one: don’t wake the farmer! That’s the rooster’s job. Of course, if you do wake the farmer, you might just get a biscuit. . . . Full of hilarious dog logic, this tongue-in-cheek primer on how to be a good farm dog (and how ignoring the rules may result in a biscuit) is a guaranteed treat.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781536201437
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	03/20/2018
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	1,031,245
Product dimensions:	8.90(w) x 9.60(h) x 0.20(d)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

  

Editorial Reviews

The structure, repeated throughout with clever variations (eating grass like a cow means throwing up a biscuit, “and you can eat that one again”), makes Kennedy’s hero more endearing with every page turn.
—Publishers Weekly

Buoyant, fresh illustrations in acrylic paints are filled with bright green grass, flowers, fields, and farm animals in motion. But it's Ragweed who is the heart of this delightful story, with his long snout and expressive, bulging eyes...Give that Ragweed an extra biscuit, or just hand over the whole box. A star deserves his just rewards.
—Kirkus Reviews

The repetition, the page turn, the dive into the forbidden will all be a treat for young audiences, and there’s a plunge into mirthful grossness that will detonate amid a group of kids like a hilarity bomb...Kids won’t be able to get enough of this goofy dog who’s smart enough to know on which side his biscuit is buttered.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

From its delicious voice, enticing refrains and satisfying conclusion, Ragweed’s Farm Dog Handbook is one of those deceptively simple but perfectly constructed picture books that should be part of every home—country or city. To paraphrase Ragweed, “You’re going to love this book.”
—BookPage

This delightfully subversive guide to being a farm dog will have readers cheering for its scrappy hero, Ragweed, who lives to extract dog biscuits from the farmer...The acrylic paints have a vibrancy and lopsided jolliness that perfectly fit this zany tale, which also gives readers a clear overview of farm animals. Ragweed’s tips and antics are a treat.
—Booklist Online

This book is very funny, with lots of energy and silliness...This pup’s irrepressible energy will win over plenty of readers and give them a fun look at life on a farm.
—School Library Journal

This delightful farm dog charms readers; Ragweed himself is endearing as a scruffy b&w dog with saucer eyes, a long snout, and two front teeth. The bright colors, large brushstrokes, and wary animals in the author’s illustrations complement Ragweed’s happy-go-lucky daily schedule. Readers will chuckle their way through these farm dog rules.
—School Library Connection

From the Publisher

05/18/2015
Working in cheery acrylics and once again mining the comedic potential of a setting that teeters between bucolic and chaotic, Kennedy (The Farmer’s Away! Baa! Neigh!) introduces Ragweed, a wiry, googly-eyed farm dog whose loopy logic and single-mindedness bring to mind a canine version of Parks & Recreation’s Andy Dwyer. Eager to mentor future farm dogs, Ragweed offers a how-to guide essentially built around one rule: don’t do anything that’s “not your job.” (“The rooster wakes the farmer early in the morning. That’s his job. That’s not your job.”) But if you do break that prime directive, say by rolling in the mud like a pig or sitting in the chickens’ nests, worry not: there’s usually a biscuit or three in it for you, especially if you can persuade the farmer you were just keeping the chickens safe from a fox. This structure, repeated throughout with clever variations (eating grass like a cow means throwing up a biscuit, “and you can eat that one again”), makes Kennedy’s hero more endearing with every page turn. Ages 3–7. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

12/01/2015
PreS-Gr 2—There are many responsibilities for a farm dog. But new dogs shouldn't be nervous—they have the experienced Ragweed to give them guidance on how to be successful. His list of do's and don'ts can be tricky and sometimes go against a canine's instincts. For instance, don't wake up the farmer, don't sit on the chickens' nests, and don't eat grass like the cows. Ragweed is pretty cunning and has learned to use the other farm animals (and the farmer) to his advantage. He points out that if you can act like you are chasing a fox when you are running from the chickens' nests, then you will earn an extra reward from the farmer. And, of course, you have to share that reward with the fox. Ragweed waits to chase the sheep when the farmer is away so that he won't get in trouble for having fun. This book is very funny, with lots of energy and silliness. Kennedy reports the facts of the farm dog life and turns reader expectations upside down. The text is brief and full of emphasis. The depictions of Ragweed in his everyday life are just as funny as his thoughts. The setting is bucolic until Ragweed, with googly eyes and lolling tongue, enters. Then Ragweed chases, races, and flies through the air. VERDICT This pup's irrepressible energy will win over plenty of readers and give them a fun look at life on a farm.—Susan E. Murray, formerly at Glendale Public Library, AZ

School Library Journal

2015-06-06
A lovable farm dog named Ragweed pens a first-person guidebook that explains how to succeed on the job while earning lots of biscuit rewards. Ragweed is so accomplished at his profession that he has written a handbook for aspiring farm dogs. He's good at writing too, and he has clear objectives to get across to his readers. He describes the job of each farm animal, what will happen if a dog tries to do that job, and what the result in the biscuit-reward system will be. Each situation is funny in a different way, from charmingly amusing (sharing an extra biscuit with a fox) to laugh-out-loud hilarious (eating grass like cows leads to, er, a biscuit that can be eaten again). The satisfying conclusion finds Ragweed and the farmer sitting together on the porch at the end of the day, with the faithful, funny canine getting a biscuit just for being a good dog. Buoyant, fresh illustrations in acrylic paints are filled with bright green grass, flowers, fields, and farm animals in motion. But it's Ragweed who is the heart of this delightful story, with his long snout and expressive, bulging eyes. He can't hold himself back from getting into the territories of the other animals, but he knows how to have fun on the farm and still get what he wants while endearing himself to the farmer (and to readers). Give that Ragweed an extra biscuit, or just hand over the whole box. A star deserves his just rewards. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews