Thursday, February 20, 2025

*Review* Jake the Growling Dog by Samantha Shannon

 

Genre: Children's 2-8 years
Published: May 19, 2019
Pages: 15


Jake’s voice has a different sound.
Other critters won’t come around.
But he is sweet and only wants to play.
Will others start to see him that way?


Looking for kids books about Feelings, Diversity, Kindness, and Friendship?

Jake the Growling Dog is a fun-loving tale about kindness, acceptance, friendship, and diversity.
Author and licensed school counselor, Samantha Shannon, and Illustrator and art educator, Kerrie Joyce, spotlight Jake, who is different from the other dogs and critters. With a little help and understanding, the others learn to love Jake despite his differences. This timely children's book about feelings, friendship, dogs, kindness, and diversity is packed with tons of fun, while also educating our little ones about friendship and how to be kind to others.

Follow Jake, a sweet, kind, and misunderstood dog as he tries to make friends despite his differences.
Meet forest critters of all kinds while getting to know Jake. Jake loves to swim, hike, and play, but when he realizes he's lonely a true friend comes to his aid. Soon others find friendship and understanding filling this tale with heart and hope.

Interactive, Colorful, and Fun kids book about dogs!

Follow along with Jake's adorable story while enjoying beautiful interactive illustrations. Each spread includes a seek and find and counting activity for the four Kindness Critters, colors to spot and learn, and cute characters to make them giggle.

Includes a loving-kindness and mindfulness activity for families, counselors, and schools

Along with Jake's story, this picture book also includes a loving-kindness activity to promote character education, mindfulness, and gratitude. The activity is for families, schools, and counselors to reduce stress and bring families closer together while encouraging acts of kindness, forgiveness, and gratitude.

A Positive Story to Promote Empathy

Jake's story encourages children to be kind, appreciate nature, find the good in all things with the power of gratitude, and to accept others who are different from them in a subtle, sweet, and impactful way.

Ages and Grades

While many kids ages 6-8 will be able to read this story on their own or with assistance, parents and grandparents will enjoy reading the story to baby, making it the perfect baby shower gift. Pre-teens to adults will also appreciate the illustrations, story, and the kindness activity to do as a family or in schools and counseling offices.

The Perfect Gift

Need a gift for a baby shower or birthday party? Jake the Growling Dog is the perfect gift for the mother-to-be, a child's birthday party, holiday's, and graduations. Plus, the ebook is FREE when you buy a print version.

Social-Emotional Learning Resource for Elementary School & Family Counselors, Social Workers, Elementary Teachers, and Families

Jake's children's book about kindness, friendship, and accepting others offers gentle teachings that has been integrated into multiple school counseling programs in districts across the United States.

An ongoing series with heart and interactive fun for families, kids, and schools!

Don't miss the other books in the Jake's series! Each book will focus on social-emotional topics, include seek and find critters, adorable furry friends, and activities for the whole family.


I received a copy of this book through Netgalley. This is my honest review. 

This is a story about a dog who growls all the time, and because he is always growling, no one wants to hang out with him so he is really quite lonely. But the most confusing part of that is that he growls even when he's happy, but the other animals don't know that those are happy growls and just assume that he is a very scary dog. Then one day a squirrel helps him to make some friends because she sees that he's not as angry and scary as he seems. 

The story was a good one for teaching that looks can be deceiving. Because Jake looked and sounded angry when he wasn't, and sometimes the people we encounter in the wild also look and sound angry when they're really not. I'd be okay reading this book a few times at least. The illustrations were very colorful and bright. 

Overall I give Jake the Growling Dog 3.6922 out of 5 stars. - Katie 




Samantha Shannon is a best-selling author and licensed educational counselor who uses her background in education, love for nature and animals, and experience aiding in the emotional social development of children to create fun and impactful books. Samantha has also published multiple books under her pen name, Parker Sinclair, in the fantasy and YA genres. Visit: parkersinclair.net & jakethegrowlingdog.com for more information or find all books on Amazon and IngramSpark. Samantha's love for creatures great and small has led her to incorporate animals in all of the books, from eagles to cheetahs! Throughout her life, Samantha's family has always included a dog, and they've always been more than pets. They were fur-brothers, sisters, and babies. When Samantha had her first child in 2009, she wanted to write a picture book based on her sister's dog, Jake. While visiting her sister in the Pacific Northwest, Samantha realized that Jake growled all the time. He growled while playing frisbee, getting an ear rub, running, and even when he was sleeping! Despite his unusual choice of noisemaking, Jake is a sweet dog, which makes him the perfect character for a children's picture book. With Samantha's background in educational counseling, Jake's first story includes a character education & loving-kindness activity for families, schools, & counselors. Jake's story speaks to all of us about accepting, and appreciating, the differences in others--both caring attitudes we need in our diverse and beautiful world.

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