Rosie: A Visting Dog's Story - Softcover

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Kindergarten-Grade 2-Dog lovers will delight in this photo essay about a pet with an unusual occupation. The positive message overcomes the unexciting, although adequate, prose as Calmenson describes the training necessary to turn her Tibetan terrier, Rosie, into a dog that visits hospital rooms, nursing homes, schools, and other institutions. The information about the therapeutic effect animals can have on the seriously ill or the elderly is conveyed most powerfully through the full-color photographs. Less obvious from the main text is how and why Calmenson and Rosie became involved in the program. The author's note following the essay and the book jacket supply some of the answers adults will need to respond to the inevitable questions the book will raise. Sutcliffe's photographs are well staged and for the most part correspond nicely to the text. It is unfortunate that Rosie is seen as almost miraculously successful in all of her visits, for this might raise some unrealistic expectations, but this is a minor shortcoming. Use this title with Susan Kuklin's Mine for a Year (Coward, 1984; o.p.), Dorothy Hinshaw Patent's Maggie, a Sheep Dog (Dodd, 1986; o.p.), or Susanne Haldane's Helping Hands (Dutton, 1991) for some different views of working animals.
Linda Greengrass, Bank Street College Library, New York City
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.