Dogs.

Selbert, Kathryn. War Dogs: Churchill & Rufus
February 1st 2013 by Charlesbridge

Okay, sad but true fact: I read books to my dog. Since Sylvie looks a bit like Rufus (but with less of a poodle hair cut), I had to pick this one up. It was absolutely adorable, and had good information about Churchill during WWII as well.  It's hard for those of us in the US to really understand how the British feel about their dogs-- they often aren't just members of the family, as we claim here, they are truly best friends. I attended an Anglican church in Athens, Greece where the minister's dog came to the service every week. Just trotted right up the aisle and sat under the first pew.

Of course, a sadder book, and one that would be harder to write, would be a book about Hitler's last dog, Blondi. At one point, Hitler even got another dog, Bella, to keep Blondi company.

Dogs bring out the best in even the absolute worst people.

http://www.dogits.com/winston-churchill-and-rufus-poodle/

http://ww2db.com/image.php?image_id=10878 

Boyer, Cecile. Run, Dog
March 11th 2014 by Chronicle Books 
Copy provided by publisher. 

In this mainly wordless picture book, children are jumping on a trampoline when a red ball gets thrown off, and the dog goes after it. The path of the ball is cleverly followed by use of quarter and half sized pages that show the reactions of the people (who are shown in silhouette) who get in the way. There are a few action words (Jump! Catch!) to show transition, and there could be some good discussion about how the people who have the ball thrust in their midst react to it.. The illustrations pop on plenty of white space and and are simply drawn in bold colors that include not only the primary colors shown on the cover, but also some 1960s inspired purples, pinks and turquoises.

I was never a fan of wordless books, but  I can see this being a good addition to a collection if libraries have an audience for them.