By Lisa Cohn
Parents and teachers, kids’ dog books are a great choice for summer reading–whether you’re reading to a preschooler or choosing books for young readers.

Kids love dog books because they’re almost always silly and elicit lots of laughs. And that means kids like to read them again and again. They also learn to love dogs by reading these books.

If your children are like my 6-year-old, Michael, they likely request trips to the bookstore or library specifically to find dog books.

Among our favorites are the series Henry and Mudge, Nate the Great, and Scooby-Doo. It’s a great idea to introduce kids to book series. If they love one of the books, they’ll ask for the next books in the series!

Henry and Mudge books are beautifully illustrated and the characters are lovable. Mudge is a huge, drooly and silly companion to young Henry and sometimes is the source of conflict in the story. For example, in “Henry and Mudge and the Careful Cousin,” Henry’s neat and clean cousin visits and Henry worries that she won’t enjoy his favorite activity–playing with Mudge.

Michael especially enjoys the dad in Henry and Mudge, because he’s “cool.” Watch this video for Michael’s opinion about the dad, which he expresses to a group of young children via Skype:

Nate the Great books are boy-and-dog books in which Nate and his dog, Sludge, solve mysteries, generally in their neighborhood. Readers quickly grow to love the characters in this humorous series, including Nate, who always writes a letter to his mother before setting out to solve a case. Rosamond is strange and has lots of cats, and Oliver follows people, while Claude loses things.

Michael loves the fact that these books are mysteries. Watch his review of “Nate the Great and the Mushy Valentine” here:

Another favorite kids’ dog book series is Scooby-Doo. In these books, Scooby-Doo reluctantly helps solve mysteries if the rest of the gang offers him a Scooby Snack. These are the silliest of all the kids’ dog books, and that’s what Michael loves best about them! They have a predictable plot line: The gang must solve a mystery, they split up and look for clues, Scooby and Shaggy act as bait to lure the bad guy, and then the mystery is solved.

The illustrations of Scooby dressed up as a mermaid, a bowler, a chef, and in other “disguises” always make us laugh. As a mom, I don’t like the fact that the gang members sometimes get tied up. But it’s hard to resist the silly illustrations and funny characters.

Here you’ll find a number of Scooby-Doo book reviews by Michael and friends, age 5 to 13:

The latest in the Scooby-Doo series are the “You Choose” books published by Capstone. Kids can follow a number of different paths for completing the story. Michael was so thrilled to discover this new series, he decided to write a song about this “You Choose: Scooby-Doo”  book, along with his music teacher:

For kids who love dog picture books, we recommend “Lucy Rescued,” which not only entertains but teaches kids about rescuing dogs from shelters:

While you’re looking into kids’ dog books, consider checking out our own book, “Bash and Lucy Fetch Confidence,” an award-winning book in which a wise by mischievous Golden Retriever instills confidence in the boys on a soccer team. We’re now working on our second book, “Bash and Lucy Fetch Jealousy.” Learn more at BashAndLucy.com

And if you’d like Michael to review a kids’ dog book, email us at BashAndLucy@gmail.com!