View source for No! by Marta Altes

{{infobox
|title=No!
|author=Marta Altes
|reviewer=Ruth Ng
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=Perfect for dog lovers, this is a fun story to read aloud, with lively illustrations. 
|rating=4.5
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=32
|publisher=Child's Play
|date=June 2011
|isbn=978-1846434174
|website=http://martaltes.blogspot.com/search/label/Books
|video=
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846434173</amazonuk>
|amazonus=<amazonus>1846434173</amazonus>
}}

''No!'' is all about one family pet's desperate attempts to please his owners.  He helps with the laundry, tastes their food before they eat it to make sure it's all right, and even warms up their beds for them before they go to sleep...the poor deluded pup thinks his family love him very much since they're always calling out what he thinks is his name, 'Noooooo!'

Anyone with a dog will enjoy this story, I think.  All of the humour lies around the fact that the doggy is blissfully unaware of the chaos he's causing everywhere he goes, and the fact that the family are telling him off constantly, not calling his name happily as he thinks.  He reminded me a great deal of my childhood dog, Barney, as we see him pulling hard on his lead, obviously to help them to get places faster!  Or he's to be found rolling around in mud (or cowpats as my Barney used to) when he is just trying to look his best for them!

The story is simple enough for little ones to enjoy, and funny enough to entertain older children too.  I very much enjoyed reading it aloud since you get to shout 'No!' a lot in a variety of different ways!  We liked the ending too, which sees the doggy very puzzled about why they bought him a collar with the wrong name on it (Spike!)

The illustrations have a sort of scrappy feel to them, and I mean that in a good way!  They help create a sense of action and mess for the dog who has a sweet, butter-wouldn't-melt smile.  All the humans remain out of view for much of the book, and we only get to see the children of the family near the end, looking worn out with their naughty dog.  They're less well drawn (I thought their noses looked a bit odd), but on the whole the pictures are lots of fun.

This would be great to read aloud to a group of children, at nursery or in a playgroup, and is also lovely to share one on one, looking over all the naughty things the doggy gets up to.  Great fun, but prepare yourself for the 'Mummy, can we get a dog?' requests afterwards!

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.

Further reading suggestion: For more fun stories about pets try [[Wanted: The Perfect Pet by Fiona Roberton]], [[DogFish by Gillian Shields]] and [[Dogs by Emily Gravett]].

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