The Year of the Puppy: How a Puppy Becomes Your Dog

Gr 6 Up–Dog lovers get to explore one puppy’s journey from her first breath. The author, founder of the Dog Cognition Lab at Barnard College, believes she should adopt a puppy in addition to her family’s two dogs and cat. While she has had dogs throughout her life, she’s never known a dog from its very beginning. Plus, puppies are cute. The first part, set shortly before the pandemic, follows a new litter week by week as well as training to be rescuers. Besides their physical development, the book monitors the puppies’ social and personality progression. When the author’s family picks their puppy, the story shifts to focus on the puppy in their home and continued development, although the dog’s littermates and the other litter continue to be tracked. Some young readers trying to understand the miscommunications between themselves and man’s best friend will appreciate this narrative style rather than a clinical approach. But it is the wrong voice for young readers. This is still very much a grown-up’s story, and children might not be interested in that perspective.