Small Readers: Tiny goes back to school by Cari Meister, illustrated by Rich Davis

Penguin rebranded its easy readers some time ago; I find it rather confusing to figure out if it's a new title or a reissued one. Also, why can't publishers coordinate their colors for levels? Or their levels, for that matter?

Tiny's unnamed owner tries to show off Tiny's obedience skills, but it looks like Tiny definitely needs to go back to school. When they arrive, Tiny's enthusiasm for the other dogs gets him into trouble. Then the teacher arrives, with a large bag of treats. Tiny quickly remembers all his tricks and teaches the other dogs.

The illustrations didn't really grab me. I do appreciate that they're large spot illustrations set in white space, which makes it a lot easier to locate the text. The text is set predominantly on the left lower corner of the spreads, with an additional few words or short sentence on the right. The pictures just felt kind of bland, not really memorable or integrated with the text.

Verdict: Acceptable filler, especially if you have kids who like dogs. Not a stand-out, but an easy reader collection needs a lot of these solid, mid-range fare for the kids to work their way through.

ISBN: 9780670786077; Published 2014 by Penguin; Borrowed from another library in my consortium; Added to the easy reader backlist to purchase