This book would be read as an interactive read aloud to first and second grade students. For my first grade students, they would write a short story about a talking animal, be it their own pet or Martha if they do not have a pet. This would help them practice story-telling through writing and encurage imaginative ideas in through creative writing. To practice the ability to formulate questions based off the reading, my second grade students would create a list of 5 to 10 questions that they would ask Martha based off her actions in the book. They would then write possible short answers to their questions, practicing the ability to make an educated guess based off what they read. For a kindergarten class, this book could even be used as a lead into a lesson on the alphabet and even simple counting numbers.

I would use this book as a read-aloud with first graders and work with them on understanding plot and the purpose of being able to identify key points and purposes in the book. With this book, we can also work on identifying the overall message of the book and focus on why it is important to realize that we are all unique and everything and everyone is meant to all be different.

I would use this book in a kindergarten or first grade classroom. It would be used as a group text as an engagement tool so that students can form discussion and understanding of who, what, when, where, why, and how topics and responses. I would read it to my students in a read aloud. The text could be used to go along with lessons when being introduced to lessons over who, what, when, where, why, and how. The illustrations go along with the text to help students visualize the dialogue and plot. This text could be used to help students build self confidence since the overall message of the book is that nothing is perfect; we are all perfectly imperfect and that makes us all unique.

I thought this book was cute and silly. But it also could be used as a sequencing lesson for kids in 1st and 2nd grade. I would use it as a read aloud and students would have to do an activity sequencing the story. You could also tie this book into a social skills lesson about telling the truth because Martha has Mr. Weaselgraf tell the truth about the collar. I could explain why telling the truth is the right thing to do because if you do not tell the truth, you can get in trouble down the road.

I think kids would like this book because it is a cute story about dogs and kids love animals. I also think that they would like it because it is a fantasy. ( )

Martha, the talking dog, is perfect for teaching children about dog abuse and how all creatures are perfect just the way they are. I highly disapprove of shock collars so it is nice to see something of the sort being shamed. ( )