My Dog Never Says Please

My Dog Never Says Please is written by Suzanne Williams and illustrated by Ted Arnold. Ginny Mae becomes frustrated by her mother's constant reminding of her to mind her manners. Ginny doesn't understand why she has to say please, chew with her mouth closed, clean her room, or wear shoes outside. I mean, why would she? The dog, Red, doesn't have to! One day Ginny was sick and tired of her mother's nagging. Out of anger, Ginny shouted at her parents saying they treated Red better than her and that she would rather be a dog. Her parents were confused but allowed her to be a dog. As a dog, Ginny was left to beg for scraps of food, slept in the doghouse, got some of Red's fleas, and was left in the rainstorm. Around dinner time as the rain began to come down, Ginny decided it was time to head in for supper.

I can relate to Ginny Mae in this story. There are times when we get caught up and frustrated with various events in life. There are certain things that make us tick because we find it bothersome or unfair. We wish we could just escape it all. At that point in time you would rather be a rabbit locked in a cage. I like the message in the story because it reminds us that life isn't as bad as we are making it out to be. This story shows that we don't have it as bad as it seems. We need to look at things from others' perspectives. These few frustrations are heavily outweighed in the end. As in Ginny's case, would you rather say please and have to wear shoes outside or have fleas and sleep outside? In the end, was it really worth all the fuss?