Oh goodness this was adorable. Monarch 2021 nominee.

A sweet story, told epistolary style, about a dog looking for his family. The visual clues in the illustrations make the ending rather predictable, but no less heartwarming.

Rating: 5 leaves out of 5
Characters: 5/5
Cover: 5/5
Story: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Genre: Children
Type: Book
Worth?: Yes

This is a great book about a stray dog trying to find a home- just charming!

I am not crazy about the illustrations, but the story is so cute and sweet! I love the extra note about how to help homeless pets. I can see this being a fun readaloud with all the different characters and their letters. Very sweet.

Cute and sweet with clever storytelling via letters. I especially liked the note at the end about ways to help homeless animals.

Final copy via publisher

Got this for our foster dogs to take a picture with and promote. This book just made me sad! Probably because that is similar to what it has been like. We go to meet and greets with our dogs and get rejections.

But of course it has a happy ending. It is also quite funny. The details that go into each letter should not be ignored. My personal favorite is the firehouse response.

This book about Arfy the dog is adorable!! It won the Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy category for "write" this year. For young children, learning that the written word and the spoken word are one and the same is evident in this book. Reading the letters that are exchanged is how this is done. Writing letters back and forth to your child is one way you can do this activity at home. And if the writings are scribbled, who cares? I guarantee you they will tell you what they wrote!

So we see Arfy write prospective owners about wanting a home. Each illustrated page and note match each other's vibe. Even adults that I read this book to loved "Can I Be Your Dog?" I would enjoy asking children throughout the book who might adopt Arfy. I realized that if you pay attention to the illustrations, it is slightly obvious. But notice, I didn't do that. ;)