Right Dog for the Job: Ira's Path from Service Dog to Guide Dog
Grade 1-5–This delightful photo-essay follows a puppy from his training to become a service dog to becoming a guide dog. In conversational tones, Patent describes Ira's training with his raiser, who happens to be a teacher, and the sixth-grade class lucky enough to participate in the process. The golden retriever then moves on to more preparation with Guide Dogs for the Blind in California, and is eventually paired with a blind man. The author keeps the focus tightly on this animal and the people around him, but manages to slip in an extraordinary amount of information about the raising and training of guide dogs. She brings life to the narrative through details–Ira learning to ride the bus, for example, and practicing the proper way to enter an elevator so that it won't close on his leash. The book comes to a satisfying conclusion when Ira and his new owner arrive at the eighth-grade graduation of the students who helped raise him. Myriad full-color photographs that will capture kids' interest accompany the text. Though the difference between service dog and guide dog is never quite made clear, this portrait of Ira is sure to hook animal lovers. Caroline Arnold's more in-depthA Guide Dog Puppy Grows Up(Harcourt, 1991) is another high-quality book on the topic. However, with appeal for a wide age range, Patent's is the right book for the job.–Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Maryland School for the Deaf, ColumbiaCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.