If there’s a little reader in your life who loves dogs, colorful pictures and a good bedtime story, we may have just found their next favorite book. 

Meet Waggy Tail, the lovable pup at the center of The Adventures of Waggy Tail, a children’s book series for beginning readers ages 3 to 7. Waggy is a real dog, too, and has built a following of over 5,000 fans on Instagram. But it’s on the pages of her books where this pup really has a story to tell. 

In Waggy Picks a Family, a young Waggy is searching for the forever family that feels just right. Her adventure continues in Waggy’s New Home, as she discovers what life is like in her new surroundings. 

Both stories are told through Waggy’s eyes, with bright, colorful illustrations and rhyming words that make them especially fun to read aloud. That combination makes the books a natural fit for bedtime, story time or those inevitable moments when a child hands you the same book you finished five minutes ago and says, “Again!” 

Fortunately, there’s something in all that repetition for beginning readers, too. 

Rhyming helps young children become familiar with sounds and word patterns that are important to early literacy development. Waggy’s stories can also get children talking about what’s happening on the page, how Waggy might be feeling and what they think will happen next. It’s learning tucked inside a story rather than a lesson disguised as homework. 

These books also make a sweet gift for the little ones in your life. Birthdays, holidays, baby showers or a surprise for your favorite young dog lover all seem like pretty good reasons to introduce them to Waggy. 

Best of all, you can shop local while doing it. Waggy Picks a Family and Waggy’s New Home are both available at The Barkshop (formally WagPride Pet Boutique) in Wilton Manors, as well as online through Amazon and Etsy. 

For the little dog lover in your life, Waggy Tail could be the beginning of a very good friendship, one bedtime story at a time.