The Amberella Tales: Amberella in the City In this delightful tale, Amberella, a Welsh corgi/Staffordshire bull terrier puppy, leaves her family behind on the farm and moves to a new home in the city where two spoiled French poodles try to teach her how to become a “proper” dog.
Zozue and Tutsu are pampered pups who are used to the finer things in life. At first, they’re not too happy to have a new addition to their household and they banish Amberella to the cold, dark pantry to sleep. But she wins them over by sharing her dinner and asking them to teach her French. Before long, they’re also instructing Amberella all about facials, manicures and the importance of getting one’s beauty rest.
When Amberella is caught chewing on slippers belonging to the household cook, Zozue and Tutsu realize she also needs to learn some basic puppy manners, such as knowing how to sit, stay and heel. Human help comes from Grand–mère, who has the ability to understand “dogspeak,” and agrees to take Amberella to obedience training and aid the two poodles with their mission.
This is a sweet story with well-developed, likeable characters and an engaging writing style. It comes with an added benefit: the book is peppered with French words and includes a vocabulary list that defines the words and tells children how to pronounce them. Written for elementary-age children, Amberella will particularly appeal to girls in third through fifth grades. Two more Amberella tales are in the works: Amberella and Double Double Trouble and Amberella and the Troublesome Nine. Elementary school librarians and parents of young girls will surely want to add this series to their book collections.
Also available in hardcover.
