100 books like The Great Dog Bottom Swap

One morning Natalie wakes to find her nose goes oink whenever she speaks. Her doctor says she isn’t ill, a pig has simply trotted up it in the night. A riotous story with a novel idea played to the full. The matter-of-fact way Natalie’s parents handle the news contrasts perfectly with the chaos of Natalie’s classmates attempting to extract said pig. Its constant oinking ruins their game of hide and seek and completely puts them off their ham rolls. A pot of pepper finally does the trick until Natalie wakes the next day with… but that would be telling.

Readers will love the whacky ways classmates try to rid Natalie of her pig, and the unexpected ending will delight. There will be animal noises in your house for days!

When Lily looks out of her bedroom window she gets the best surprise – a doggy! But this is no ordinary doggy. There’s been an escape from the zoo… Readers know from the outset Lily’s new pet is really a bear. Hear them shout ‘but he’s not a dog!’

Even Lily notices he’s quite big ‘for a dog’, but insists on taking him for a walk and teaching him tricks, none of which he is any good at. Unfortunately, the zookeeper recognises his bear from the ‘lost doggy’ poster Lily’s mum makes her display. She must give him back.

A beautifully illustrated story, full of optimism and a little girl’s irrepressibly wonderful outlook on life. It will have you laughing all the way from beginning to the cheerful final twist.

Jack’s lost in the forest; the forest Mum warned him is full of ‘ferocious, wild beasts’. A friendly bear offers to help, but is soon as scared as Jack when he hears how hairy and big some of the beasts are. A variety of other creatures join them – there’s safety in numbers when you might be squished or pounced on or gobbled up by who knows what. And then a wild roar echoes through the forest…

I love how the creatures all seem perfectly friendly to Jack. His terrifying them all by retelling his tales of ferocious beasts, again and again, is brilliant. And the ending is just perfect – especially for any ferocious mum out there!

It might be a children’s book, but this is one of the most powerful sales and marketing stories ever written! It instilled in me persistence and dogged determination. From it, I learned, too, that you must never immediately dismiss those who you find downright annoying.

As an adult, this book helped me to motivate others to "give it a go;" to try something new and different. It inspired me to do the same and not to be easily intimidated.

Every list should have a lost classic, and this is mine: The tale of Baxter, the full-fledged psycho bull terrier, with, again, extended passages from the dog’s point of view. The book opens with Baxter musing:

“What if some morning as the old woman stood at the head of the staircase she were suddenly to feel a weight thrusting against the back of her legs? What if she were to lunge forward, grasping at the air, striking her thin skull against the edge of a stair?”

Bad dog. Baxter then trots over to live with the young couple across the street. That doesn’t end so well either. Then he finds true love with a kid with as little capacity for love as Baxter, and suddenly Baxter is no longer the antagonist and … the novel comes full circle. Very dark and very funny in spots and, I hate to repeat… show more.

A book about dogs who help protect soldiers had my attention before I even cracked it open. Soldier Dogs is exactly as advertised—Goodavage details how dogs are trained, the bonds that handlers form with their canine partners, and some of the challenges associated with the difficult job these dogs do. This book was an interesting and informative read for anyone curious about the lives of working K-9s and their handlers.

This is a gentle, joyful story about perseverance and growing up. 

A young boy named Peter wishes he could whistle. When he sees that another boy can whistle to get his dog to run to him, he wants to do the same with his dachshund Willie. Peter tries and tries to learn. He tries so hard his cheeks get tired. He doesn't give up and triumphs in the end.

Several other books by Ezra Jack Keats feature Peter and Willie together and they're a pair worth knowing. 

I‘ve loved this book for years and if you haven’t read it, please give yourself a treat. Gloria, a dog of few words but lots of action, is one of my all-time favorite picture book characters. Officer Buckle is earnest when he gives his school talks on safety. Gloria, the police dog, is his sidekick and buddy. They have ice cream after their presentations. He thinks she obeys. But when he discovers she has been delighting their audiences while sneakily upstaging him with her antics, he refuses to do any more school talks. The show must go one with just Gloria—alone. But it’s no good. There is a happy ending to this book about teamwork and friendship. The Caldecott Medal-winning art is sublime.

This is an old book, in the tradition made so popular by Jack London. There were a number of these ‘proud, free dog of the North’ type of books published, and they are all great reads, yet this one is in my opinion the finest of them. It never descends into mawkish sentiment, but tells Kazan’s story from his own viewpoint; there is little of the human world, and we get a glimpse of just how alien a wild animal is, how different from our own, more domestic companions. 

A tremendously exciting read, with not a dull page in it.

This is a great story about keeping your heart open and not making snap judgments. Cat does not like Valentine’s Day and has no interest in celebrating it. He especially does not want to celebrate with his new neighbor, Dog. After all, Dog has been throwing things over the fence at Cat! How rude. But just went Cat decides to tell Dog exactly what he thinks, Cat gets an unexpected surprise—and maybe even a new friend too! This is such a funny and sweet story full of humor and heart.