title: How to Behave at a Dog Show
author:  Madelyn Rosenberg 
description: K-Gr 2Didactic Julia Fitzgerald is at it again, this time she is instructing readers how to behave at a dog show as she prepares her own pet to participate in one. The narrative takes children through the application process, little Rexie's competition preparation, and the team's efforts to win a ribbon. Unfortunately for Julia, things don't go as planned; Rexie gets dyed, skunked, and generally misbehaves while her little brother Charlie and their neighbor friends create some chaos of their own. Though her perfect plans are thwarted, Julia learns to set different standardsmore reasonable and childlike onesfor best of show. Ross's Photoshop digital images, vibrant against mostly white pages, have the charm of dynamic pen and watercolor sketches and provide the irony in the story; readers can see the mess and tumult while they read Julia's calm directives. As a read-aloud there is some dissonance as Julia's narration breaks from expository to dialogic without quotation marks, changes to the font size, or other visual indications; her increasing upset is indicated only by an exclamation point and a few capitalizations for emphasis. It seems that readers can't get enough of bossy yet well-meaning girl characters, and Julia fits that subgenre perfectly. VERDICT Recommended for most collections, this title promises to circulate widely.Lisa Lehmuller, East Providence School District, RI
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  TIT FOR TAT
  
  
  “I’d really like to hear the reason you look so . . . flustered.”
  
  
  “I don’t think,” Annie said, “that you could handle it.”
  
  
  “I’m a big boy. Try me.”
  
  
  “I was wondering what it would be like to go to bed with you.” She turned and
  sashayed past him and out the door. “Coming?” she called over her shoulder.
  This is somebody else in my body. This isn’t me saying these wild things. I
  never said anything remotely like that to a man before . . .
  
  
  She turned to look. He had followed her.
  
  
  “Sit!” he commanded. “I’ll be right back.”
  
  
  Annie sat. She waited and waited. I scared him off. She stood up.
  
  
  “I thought,” he said, returning, “I told you to sit.”
  
  
  “I was sitting. Now I’m standing. What difference does it make? You tell dogs
  to sit, not people.” Annie sat.
  
  
  “Now close your eyes.”
  
  
  Annie closed her eyes.
  
  
  It was the sweetest, the most demanding, the most wonderful kiss she’d ever
  received in 