The soon to be published (October 2026) picture book, Fancy Dogs by Tini Malina and Tammi Reiche is a cute story for the younger listener and a good just starting out solo reader. I am neither of these types of readers, but still felt this was a good book. Maybe not the best I’ve read, but one that I recommend to dog lovers of all ages.
This book came to me via an online reader in an email from the publisher. I would email the rep afterwards and we had a lovely conversation about books to be published soon. I enjoy NorthSouth books. Such as Selma-The Story of a Stellar Spider (which is out, or will be soon as of the writing of the review). This title was mentioned in the email as it is also a Tini Malina title. I located another online reader and realized I had read it before. I don’t remember loving it, but it was nice. I would say a 3 out of 5. It is a nice solid story with fun and slightly unique illustrations, but it was not a wow tale. That is fine, as not every book needs to be. Sometimes we just need to enjoy ourselves reading about a spider who does her own thing, regardless of what the other spiders think of us. Because you never know how high you can spin your web if you do not try.
And it is hard not to enjoy a book about the different types of dogs out there that is set in humorous ways. Fancy Dogs might not seem like there is a lot going on at first, but the simple images are goofy, off putting, clever, off-beat and that face of the red dog on the cover is almost disturbing. Which tells me this book is not for everyone, but when its audience finds it, it will be love at first sniff.
You can find both titles in Spanish Fancy Dogs as Los perros finos, and Selma as Selma-La Historia de Una Araña Estelar
