Beginning Readers, Fetch These Books for the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show

An old joke says that outside of a dog, a book is a person's best friend. That's because inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. That joke is even printed on a wall at Harold Washington Library Center. (It's credited to Groucho Marx there. The truth is nobody knows for sure who created this joke!)

If you're a fan of books and the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, I am here to fulfill your dog and book needs. Take a look at some of my favorite books about dogs for beginning readers.

The Barkus series is a wonderful new set of books with short stories about a big energetic dog named Barkus and his little girl human. The pair share all sorts of adventures with the rest of their family. You can start from the beginning with the first book, Barkus.

King, the golden retriever, and his human, Kayla, are a perfect crime-solving pair ... even if sometimes King has a little trouble talking to Kayla. The King and Kayla series will test your wits, warm your heart and make you laugh! The first book in the series is King & Kayla and the Case of the Secret Code.

This next book tells you to see the cat. But the cat on the page isn't a cat, it's a dog! Poor Max is annoyed that this book won't stop calling him a cat. There's no cat in this book ... or is there? See the Cat is a laugh-out-loud book with three stories about Max, who isn't a cat! Just wait until you're supposed to see the snake!

In Moo Dog (a sequel to Moo Bird), Moo Bird's new pal Moo Dog loves saying "moo" as much as Moo Bird does, even though neither of them are cows. The other animals don't understand and laugh at Moo Dog. Can Moo Dog show them it's okay to be a little different? Find out in this laugh-out-loud comic-style book!

There are some great fictional dogs in this list, but you might want to learn about some real-life dogs. The Awesome Dogs series is all about different breeds of dogs, like Beagles and Labrador Retrievers.

What's your favorite book about dogs?