Reviews

Boys Are Dogs by Leslie Margolis

cogsofencouragement's review

Go to review page

4.0

Positive story about how to handle change & tips on how to handle interpersonal conflict. Good read for middle schoolers or soon to be middle schoolers.

sandylovesbooks's review

Go to review page

4.0

Very cute. Sad to say alot of boys still act this way. :)

gabs_myfullbookshelf's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

This book was so. much. fun! I liked it almost as much as Girl's Best Friend by the same author!

I normally don't enjoy reading about 11 year olds, because most authors manage to make them sound like complete idiots who don't know how to do anything and may as well be in preschool. That is SO not an accurate depiction, and it makes me think they forgot what it was like to be that age. Not Leslie Margolis, though. She made a relatable character with struggles that kids and even teens can relate to, and adults will remember having when they were children.

The dog training part of the book was funny and I found myself wondering if this could actually work if I had tried it in sixth grade. I'm thinking it probably would have. (Though I probably would have gotten a reputation for being bossy.)

So, I would definitely recommend this book, especially to girls ages 9-12. It was a good read, and I am placing a hold on the second book in the series as soon as I am done writing this review!

This review can be found on http://myfullbookshelfreviews.blogspot.com/

book_nut's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

A very cute premise -- girl deals with boys and 6th grade at a co-ed middle school (after going to an all-girl school) by using the instructions in her dog training manual -- for a very cute book.

uncle_remus's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

I think this book presents real-world problems and offers possible real-world solutions. I see Annabelle facing several problems: (1) moving to a new home (gaining new friends / losing old ones), (2) living with a new parental figure (where she never had a male figure before), (3) moving to a new school, (4) dealing with several bullies (5) training a new puppy. I found the main character Annabelle to be a positive role model, and not in a superhero sense, but someone in which the teen girls reading could realistically aspire to become.

I thought the solutions were realistic for this age group, and the comparison (per the title) to dogs seems appropriate. However, in real life, I doubt the solutions would work, or work as easily or succinctly as in this book. But, Annabelle finds her voice. Hopefully the girls reading this will find their voices, too.

Not being a 6th grade girl, I cannot say whether they find it as slow paced as I did, or more interesting. I think some things are dated (cordless phone, Meatloaf / Red Hot Chili Peppers), but not overly so. 3.5/4 bumped up because of the positive role model.

As per my shelving, while I would not call a 6th grader a Young Adult, but I wouldn't think of them as children either (as in Winnie the Pooh - age). This book is somewhere in between.

mon_ique's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

Such a touching story about the horror of boys! Don't get me wrong, some are nice and not horrid, while others are disgusting and mean. As the sequel says, girls act the same way too.Maybe not exactly, but the traits are still there. Hilarious that being confident and in control works on boys AND dogs. Can't wait to read the follow up!

bridget_books's review against another edition

Go to review page

2.0

I'm going to start by saying I should have read this immediately when I got it because I would have enjoyed it a lot more then. Now, I'm reading more YA and books with a completely different feel from this one which made me not really like it at all.
24/100 (1 3/4 stars)
Characters: 7/20 (1/4 star)- I hated Annabelle, the main character, because she was so whiny about everything. She's upset she moved to this nice house 30 miles away, and she "had to pretend" not to like her dog because she didn't want her mom and her mom's boyfriend to know she liked the dog. I have moved a couple times and even though I might have been sad about leaving my friends, I was never as whiny about it as Annabelle. She was only moving 30 miles away, not that far away (they're still in the same state!), and I have moved over 1,000 miles away from my friends. I don't know if it was just my experiences, but I couldn't stand how she reacted to the whole situation. The only reason I didn't rate this lower is because there was character development by the end of the book.
Plot: 4/20 (1/4 star)- As i mentioned, I should have read this when I got it because the plot wasn't interesting to me, and I didn't really care what happened.
Setting: 3/20 (1/4 star)- There wasn't a lot of setting descriptions, just when Annabelle was complaining about her new, big house which annoyed me.
Writing: 8/20 (1 star)- The writing just wasn't for me. It was good, but the rest of the book I didn't like, so it didn't seem as good as it could have been in my eyes if the story was different.
Enjoyment: 2/20 (0 star)- It wasn't very realistic or if it was I've never seen anything like that happen, and adding that with everything else I mentioned in this review it just wasn't my type if book overall.

finesilkflower's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

I'm normally irritated by gender stereotypes in so-called "chick lit," even the chick lit that I enjoy (that which is aimed at 11-year-old girls). Ordinarily, I'd never pick up a book called "Boys are Dogs." But I'd enjoyed a sequel to this, so I decided to give it a try. I was pleasantly surprised; rather than the actually misogynist messages that underlie many "men are from mars" type stories, this one came off to me as clever, positive, and empowering.

When Annabelle transfers from an all-girls school to a co-ed one, she has no idea how to deal with boys who call her names, take things from her, and steamroll over her in class. She's training a new puppy at the same time and, at first unintentionally, applies lessons from her dog training book to help her with boys, most of them lessons that would absolutely really work with people: look them in the eye; tell, don't ask; keep your words short and to the point; show no fear. The genders are actually irrelevant; Annabelle's example nicely illustrates that you can get past your first instincts of meekness and uncertainty and train yourself to act like the alpha, even when you don't feel that way.

More clever touches: The instigating factor for Annabelle's move and school change--and getting the dog--is her mom moving in with a corny, dadlike boyfriend, yet another way in which Annabelle's life is going from all-girl to co-ed. Annabelle's biological father was an unimportant short-term boyfriend of her mother's and choice not to be involved, a backstory I've never actually seen in another kids' book, which usually show two-parent households or divorced single parents. I like that Annabelle fully knows this story and is completely well-adjusted about it.

Areas of lacklusterness: It might have been nice to have a meek boy and thuggish girl in the mix for counterexample, though I suppose these really are statistically problems that girls are more likely to face. Mostly, I'm annoyed by the gaggle of cardboard cut-out gal pals. I know it's not about the friends, but it would be nice if they had attributes other than The Loud One, The Bookish One, The Hippie, and The One Who Likes the Dodgers. "Liking the Dodgers" is not a full personality.

kristinadixon97's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

Cute book! The MC could be a bit annoying at times, but overall a cute read

martha_schwalbe's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

My daughter thought I should read this book after she finished it. She said she thought I would like it and I did. We're going through puppy stages right now so the training was spot on. I laughed at the puppy antics. The struggle of Annabelle, new girl in her first year in middle school, brought back memories of being a misfit. The story takes place near some of my California haunts so all around a trip back in time from the safety of middle age.