Nonfiction Monday: Shih Tzus and Boston Terriers are the Best! by Elaine Landau

So, our custodian is retired Navy. Big guy. Fixes up cars. Drives a Mustang. What kind of dog does he have?

Yep, a little fuzzball. Cute little guy, too! He has come to visit a few times, and we love that he doesn't bark his head off like some little dogs. We're more familiar with big dogs ourselves, so when this book arrived from Lerner, we asked him to check it over for accuracy. As we expected, it passed the test.

This is the third set we have received from this series (see an earlier review here), and we are happy to see Lerner is continuing with the same quality. Many breed-specific dog books for children fall into one of several pitfalls. Some aren't really very breed-specific at all. Some focus too much on the positive attributes of a breed, making everyone want to go out and adopt one without knowing what they are getting into. Some swing so hard the other way, the reader is left feeling ambivalant at best.

We do have to point out the first 'mistake' we have noticed in these books, although it is a tiny one.

In Boston Terriers are the Best, right next to a caption stating "Ask your vet how much food you should give your BT", we see a photo of a Boston Terrier munching from a bowl of food bigger than he is. Probably NOT what your vet is going to recommend. Many of the photos in this series feature a large animal/head/object in the forefront, and this is just following suit. Not a huge deal, but since the photos and text in this series usually match up so well, we thought it worth mentioning.

That tiny detail aside, these books contain a thorough and accurate overview of each breed, while maintaining a very upbeat and accessible style. As we mentioned, we are more into big dogs. These books don't make us want to run out and get a Shih tzu (it's hard to groom a puppy when your flippers can't hold a brush), but we do have an appreciation now for their happy little personalities, or for the Boston terrier's intelligence. If your library can only get one series of dog books, we strongly suggest this one! We give both of these a

5 out of 5.

For more reviews of nonfiction books, hop over to The Book Nosher (We love that name!)