Why dogs don’t bark at Santa 
by Greg Ray
illustrated by Jenny Miller
designed by Holly Webber
Why Dogs, Tasmania, 2017
Age group: preschool to 10 years, adult dog lovers
Format: hard cover, 26 pages
A friend travelling in Tassie discovered this book for her grandson, and lent it to me.
The story
Santa and Rudolph are heroes to dogs everywhere, and this story explains why…
My Christmas book review
I was surprised at enjoying this book more than I expected to. Jenny Miller has created some beautiful watercolour images for the story that merge into the white space used for the text. It starts with a dog not reacting to reindeer outside the window and Santa’s feet arriving in the fireplace.
Santa and Rudolph in the snow
The text itself consists of rhymes throughout which is fun for younger listeners, and for the reader!
Through a snowy storm, Santa doesn’t give up on searching for a group of lost puppies so the book showcases Santa as generous and caring, as we expect him to be.
This is the latest in series of Why Dogs books which are all self-published in Tasmania. I haven’t read any others, nor seen them, but they are described as a tongue in check collection of stories about the characteristics and eccentricities of our canine companions.
My seven and nine year old kids enjoyed this Christmas book, as did a friend’s two year old dog-loving son.
Would I recommend Why dogs don’t bark at Santa? Yes, I would as it is a fun read and a nice story about Santa. And I do like Miller’s watercolour images!
Reading about Santa and dogs whilst riding a reindeer!
