Boys are Dogs by Leslie Margolis

Youth fiction - 2.5 stars

April's Mother-Daughter Book Club selection was so bubble-gum/pop, I could not give it more than a 2.5. The story of Annabelle, a sixth-grader who comes home from summer camp to find that her mother has moved in with her boyfriend, Ted (or Dweeble), which causes Annabelle to leave her all-girls school and enter the world of the public middle school. She also gets a new puppy, complete with dog training book. Annabelle learns from the book how to talk so a dog will listen, and tries out her new techniques on some of the boys who torment her. She learns that self-confidence is essential when dealing with both. There is a lesson, but this book is in no way deep, and was definitely not my favorite selection.