About APNH
A PUPPY’S NEW HOME BOOK SERIES OFFERS MORE THAN THE AVERAGE DOG BOOK
Over 4 million dogs enter shelters every year because of factors associated with dog care, health, and behavior. Aggressiveness, destructiveness, and disobedience are some of the biggest behavioral reasons why dogs are relinquished. A Puppy's New Home, a new book series of educational dog books for kids, was formed because we believe proper education in our communities can lead to healthier, happier dogs and families. It is our hope that the simple act of reading our books will help decrease the number of dogs that end up without homes and in turn, develop in the loving homes they so desperately deserve.
ABOUT THE SERIES
A Puppy’s New Home book series, Kickstarter funded in 2014, is not limited to only teaching about dog care, body language, and healthy eating habits; each book also includes academic components: alphabet, numbers, vocabulary, geography, history, character counts, and the importance of community and service learning. Their children’s books go beyond cute pictures and a light-hearted story. Each dog teaches kids how to care for his specific breed through interaction, helping them to understand specific breed behavior, health management, and their origins.
A.J. Richards
Hi! I’m A.J. Richards, author of A Puppy's New Home book series. I have always been surrounded by animals: dogs, cats, horses, deer, hamsters, gerbils, and many others to name a few. From an early age, I began caring for numerous shelter pets and continued into adulthood. Helping dogs and people in need has always been important to me. I earned a BA in American literature and a MA in public administration while working with at-risk youth for a Nebraska non-profit, Completely KIDS, in after-school and children’s enrichment capacities. I now live in Berkeley, California researching, writing, and continuing to help animals and kids have brighter futures.
Rayah Jaymes
I'm Rayah Jaymes. Like most artists, I'm a creative chameleon, feeling my way around different areas of the arts. However, I'm also a serious business woman; I started my own catering company at 15 and went on to manage several restaurants. Two years ago, I decided to make my side passion of illustration, my labor of love (aka job). I've illustrated seven books (six children) and have a few more in production that will be published by the end of the year. I come from an incredibly large, multicultural family, which continues to inspire my art and storytelling. I aspire to illustrate many more books that educate children and their parents about the diverse world around them, and how they can make it better everyday in everything they do.
About the Creators
It's never to early to start learning!
Humane Education
The Six Pillars of Character Counts: Trustworthiness Respect Responsibility Fairness Caring Citizenship
The Six Pillars of Character Counts: Trustworthiness Respect Responsibility Fairness Caring Citizenship
Dog Care & Safety
Every Experience is a Teachable Moment
Developmental Assets
& Character Counts
Academics
Dogs Make the Best Teachers
Happy Dog=Happy Family
Press Releases
Reviews & Interviews
"This book has everything from geography, family ties, friendship to great kid-appropriate information for adding a dog to your family. I work as a Children's Librarian - so I went right to the audience and read it to a couple of 5 year olds - they loved Louie, and I am sure went home asking for a dog! This would be a great book - whether adding a Lab or any other dog to your family or just helping a child understand social interactions with a dog."
Jeannie, GoodReads
"A very awesome book cover, lots of excellent story pictures, great font & writing style. A delightful very well written fun-filled informative children’s dog book. It was very easy for me to read/follow from start/finish & never a dull moment. There were no grammar/typo errors, nor any repetitive or out of line sequence sentences. Lots of exciting scenarios, with several twists/turns & a great set of unique characters to keep track of. I’m pretty sure since my granddaughters now have a dog even my 4 year old with a little help from big sister would love this book. A very easy rating of 5 stars. "
Tony Parsons, MSW, GoodReads
"This a very creative and educational book for kids of all ages. It should be read to preschool kids and found in every elementary school library, pet store, Humane Society and pet supply store. The responsibility of being a new pet owner is conveyed in a sweet and easy way and that's a subject that is too often forgotten. What a little gem of a book. I hope there will be more from this author."
Amy, Amazon
"What a wonderful concept! My two daughters are just getting to that age where they are begging us to adopt a puppy. My husband and I have had animals growing up, but we wanted to help our kids to understand the responsibility that is involved with caring for a new puppy. We have been reading blogs about bichon frises and came across this adorable little book that is absolutely perfect! The writing is clean and grammatically well done, which I totally appreciate. The tone is approachable and educational for the kids, without being too childish, which my older daughter can appreciate, and the illustrations are really beautiful! I absolutely recommend this as a starter book for families thinking about adopting a new puppy!"
Meredith, Amazon
"It's hard to find a book for kids that is easy and fun to read, but also educational.
What I love about this book is, it's breed specific. This book will help kids understand characteristics of Bichon, how to treat them and care for them.
If you are thinking about getting Bichon Frise for a pet, this book is excellent way for children to learn about "Bichon Frise" and how to be responsible pet owner in general. ASPCA should have their stamp of approval on this book, seriously!"
Jennie R, Amazon
Amy Jussel
Founder, Executive Director
"[A Puppy's New Home] not only serves as a primer for learning the language and behavior of dogs, but offers a practical subtext that applies to respect and compassion for ALL creatures great and small (including two-legged peers!)
Studies continually show the academic and school climate benefits of early social emotional learning with stories that create context and educate with empathy.
A Puppy’s New Home does all this and more looping in risk prevention research, the beginning stages of service learning, core character traits and basic geography and counting in each book about a dog’s care with interactive springboards to more robust opportunities to educate kids even further via their field guides on Dog Books for Kids.com."
Even if A Puppy’s New Home imparted just the basics of humane education, teaching kids boundaries, dog bite prevention, or what to expect from certain breeds and mixes to help families select the right ‘fit’ for their home and prevent ‘shelter returns’ I’d be sold on supporting this project…
…But they’ve shared their plans to delve deeper into nuanced material that has ‘crossover appeal’ with human life lessons.
From PTSD topics and bullying scenarios to ‘don’t touch my muzzle’ life lessons which could easily apply to adverse childhood experiences (and flip the script on ACES) “kidlit” that uses dogs as a device to impart touchier subjects would appeal to early childhood educators and psychologists FAR beyond the basic books about being a critter companion…
Doni
www.YourSpecialDog
"The most adorable part for me is when the author writes about which foods dogs can or can't eat, or how many times a day a puppy and a grown up dog should eat . If a kid reads this book he will sure become a big dog lover when he grows up. This book educates our little ones to love animals and help them.
Every page in this book is illustrated with beautiful and colorful graphics that makes it perfect for kids. This book has 34 pages and is great for children and toddlers."
