Product Description

When the owner of Martha Jane's Bookshop goes into the hospital to get her tonsils out, the whole town fights over who will get to take care of Martha Jane, the owner's beloved dog.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #44125 in Books
• Published on: 1996-09-01
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .34" h x 9.79" w x 10.26" l, .95 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 40 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Business is booming at Martha Jane's Bookshop, because everyone in town loves Martha Jane, the owner's dog. In fact, they love her so much that when the owner gets sick and needs a dog-sitter, fights break out over who should do the honors. Martha Jane helps settle things amicably?and nets her owner a husband in the process. It's a diverting tale, and Rylant delivers it with an understated sense of humor. Her illustrations, on the other hand, might dazzle a peacock with their loud combinations of clashing colors. As in her self-illustrated Dog Heaven and The Whales, she substitutes a faux-primitive style for a mastery of draftsmanship. Not only do the pictures fail to add anything to what's told in the text, they in fact detract from the careful crafting of the prose. Ages 3-up.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 3?The owner of "Martha Jane's Bookshop" loves her dog so much that she has named her store after the pup. This causes come confusion, as everyone thinks Martha Jane is the proprietor. The action in the tale springs from the hospitalization of the unnamed owner, and the neighborhood's competition to care for Martha Jane. Finally the pooch chooses a man who often brings her a bone. "The woman and the big man liked each other so much that they got married. Martha Jane went on the honeymoon, of course." Martha Jane is the star of this tale, and the humans around her, including the interracial newlyweds, are cardboard. Rylant's full-color illustrations are deep-hued and childlike, with vivid decorated borders surrounding each spread. Their effect is primitive and pleasing. The language, however, is void of Rylant's typical sense of play or poetry. The message, that adults can come together through the love of a dog, lacks insight. Martha Jane is a stolid protagonist, but pales in the shadow of Martha in Susan Meddaugh's Martha Speaks (Houghton, 1992). In the end, this tale is simply a paean to a puppy. There is little tension to grab young audiences.?Carolyn Noah, Central Mass. Regional Library System, Worcester, MA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Ages 3^-6. Martha Jane is a dog, okay? So when her female owner changes the name of her bookstore to Martha Jane's Bookshop, some comic customer confusion ensues. Pretty soon, though, everybody has sorted things out and has fallen in love with Martha Jane, especially the big man in the green coat who comes in once a week. When the woman--whose name we never learn--has to go into the hospital, the man takes care of Martha Jane and the bookstore. And guess what? Pretty soon he falls in love with the woman, too. Of course, Martha Jane goes along on the honeymoon. Happily, the story isn't as sappy as it sounds, being redeemed by Rylant's sly humor and straightforward, unsentimental style. Unfortunately, Rylant also provides the illustrations, a more problematic matter. She has a nice color sense, but her unformed, naive style ill serves her story, though some preschoolers may enjoy seeing a book by an adult who doesn't draw any better than they do. Michael Cart