What do you think?
Rate this book
Pugs and Kisses
Ana Ramos may not have a dog of her own, but she does get to walk her neighbor's adorable pug, Osito. One day, at the park, Osito befriends another pug, Pancake, whose owner just happens to be a cute new boy named Calvin. When Calvin assumes that Osito belongs to Ana, she doesn't correct him. No big deal, right?
Ana doesn't realize the trouble she has unleashed until Calvin shows up at her school. Calvin suggests setting up play dates for the two pugs, and Ana can't bring herself to admit that Osito isn't hers. In fact, her fibs keep multiplying! Will Ana fess up and figure out how she feels about Calvin before her white lies catch up to her?
Ana doesn't realize the trouble she has unleashed until Calvin shows up at her school. Calvin suggests setting up play dates for the two pugs, and Ana can't bring herself to admit that Osito isn't hers. In fact, her fibs keep multiplying! Will Ana fess up and figure out how she feels about Calvin before her white lies catch up to her?
272 pages, Paperback
Published January 2, 2018
59 people are currently reading
487 people want to read
About the author
J.J. Howard
11 books191 followersJ.J. Howard writes YA and MG books. She lives in West Palm Beach, Florida. Her assistant is named Willow—a miniature dachshund with a lot of great ideas—most of them involving dinner or at least snacks. Her books include the young adult novels THAT TIME I JOINED THE CIRCUS and TRACERS. Her middle grade novels include SIT, STAY, LOVE, Z ON LOCATION (an American Girls Book), PUGS AND KISSES, PUGS IN A BLANKET, THE LOVE PUG, and GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE PUGS.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
January 28, 2022
What a darling little story! From the cover to the escapades, this middle-grade romcom had me engaged from beginning to end. There was high tension from the beginning since the lead wanted a dog and her mom had a “no-pets rule.” It was fun seeing how a new kid struggled to survive the Big Apple, and it was equally intriguing to see the preparations for a quinceañera unfold.
The two pugs with fun names were what stole the show, though. Osito, meaning Little Bear, and Pancake; what could be cuter?! I really enjoyed spending time with this mischievous dogs and their super-sweet story.
Content: replacement expletives, replacement profanity, crude sexual terms
The two pugs with fun names were what stole the show, though. Osito, meaning Little Bear, and Pancake; what could be cuter?! I really enjoyed spending time with this mischievous dogs and their super-sweet story.
Content: replacement expletives, replacement profanity, crude sexual terms
October 4, 2021
Aww this was such a cute fast paced book💕💕 I loved and enjoyed every part of it❤️❤️
So this is something I needed!! A book about a girl who loved dogs and falls in love with another dog onwer but doesn’t realise, she has to lie that the dog is her own but actually is her neighbour’s ,a best friend, a really sweet sister, a cute story!!💕💕
I love this so much!!❤️❤️
So this is something I needed!! A book about a girl who loved dogs and falls in love with another dog onwer but doesn’t realise, she has to lie that the dog is her own but actually is her neighbour’s ,a best friend, a really sweet sister, a cute story!!💕💕
I love this so much!!❤️❤️
April 7, 2018
OMG, this book was AWFUL. The only redeeming quality were the pugs on the cover. But what a brainless, flaccid, pointless story. Pure drivel. If it wasn't a library book, I would have burned it... it would be the kind thing to do.
March 17, 2018
I loved this book it adorable and romantic
March 29, 2018
Best book ever! So sweet, sad, and beautiful!
I highly recommend this!
I highly recommend this!
January 29, 2026
Pugs and Kisses is a heart-melting little delight that wraps you up like a warm hug from your favorite furry friend. J.J. Howard captures the pure joy, loyalty, and gentle humor that only pugs can bring, turning everyday moments into something tender and smile-worthy. Each page feels filled with affection, playful charm, and an obvious love for these wrinkly companions. It’s the kind of book that makes you grin without realizing it—and maybe even reach down to hug a dog nearby. Sweet, comforting, and full of love, Pugs and Kisses is a treat for animal lovers and anyone who believes happiness often comes with four paws and a wagging tail. 💕😋
February 22, 2023
This was such a cute read! I loved the pugs! Also, Pancake and Osito were cute names for the dogs. Ana was a likable character. I really appreciated her drive to succeed academically. I also enjoyed seeing aspects of her culture and I liked the relationship with her and her sister Tali as well as her best friend Phoebe. Calvin was a sweetie. Another cute middle grade read.
February 27, 2018
This book was amazing because a relate to the charter so much! She wants a pug but her family won’t let her!
April 25, 2018
Tess Zurawski
“Pugs and Kisses,” by J.J Howard, is a fun realistic fiction story. It is written in first person and is told by a Puerto Rican middle school girl named Ana Ramos. She lives in a walk-up apartment in New York City, with a mom, dad, and older sister that is turning 15. The story starts out with Ana’s birthday, and her birthday wish is to get a dog. Her mom doesn’t like pets, so she knows it will be hard to convince her mom to get a dog. Ana has been practicing her dog walking skills because the women just above their apartment has a dog. This women, Mrs. Ramirez, is getting older and has some issues with her back. So it is hard for her to walk her little black pug, Osito. She has trouble walking up and down five flights of stairs. Ana helps Mrs. R. everyday by taking Osito to the dog run at the park. Ana meets a cute boy, named Calvin, at the park one weekend who also has a pug, named Pancake. He was super nice to her, and she learned that he was new to New York City. Thinking that she wouldn’t see him anytime soon, she met him at school on Monday as he was announced the new student to the school in her same grade. They had a lot of the same classes and Ana learned that he was just as smart as she was. Ana has always gotten straight A’s since forever and she was hoping to win the smartest student award that school year. Her best friend Phoebe had warned Ana that Calvin could be a little competition because he was smart too. Ana started meeting Calvin at the park after school so they could hang out along with their dogs. Calvin assumes that Osito is Ana’s dog, and she doesn’t correct him. As she starts to play along with it, her lies get worse and she gets caught up in a web of lies and it’s hard for her to just confess to Calvin. This books is about her trying to keep her school work up, stay friends with Calvin while telling some white lies about Osito, and on top of that, trying to get ready for her sister’s big fiftieth birthday. Ana is a smart girl who wants to keep her grades up but gets distracted over this cute boy Calvin. The main characters in this story are Ana, Calvin,
Phoebe, Ana’s older sister, Tali, and Ana’s parents. Ana loves to code on computers, be an engineer when she grows up, and hang out with her best friend, Phoebe. She also loves the little black pug above her apartment, Osito. Ana learns throughout the story that she can’t get distracted from her important school work by a boy. She also learns that she shouldn’t be selfish about using Mrs. R’s dog as a way to talk to a boy. She used to take Osito for walks to help Mrs. R, and because she loved Osito. Then she started to use Osito to go to places with Calvin. Ana did learn from her mistake. She stopped being selfish and learned from her actions. She also learned that her schoolwork should come first. You can tell that Ana has a crush on Calvin through her actions because she blushes a lot when she is around him and when he talks to her sometimes. You can also tell that she knows that she needs to stop lying to Calvin through her thoughts. She has to make a website project in her coding class, and one of her website ideas was to stop people from lying. She thought about how she could make it so it knew when she lied and it stopped her. But then she thought about it and realized that she can only stop herself from lying, not a website. The main conflict is character vs. self. Ana knows her lies that she tells to Calvin are building up, but she is to scared to tell him the truth. She knows that if she tells the truth this late that it would be awkward and he would be mad. Every time she gathers the courage to say something she always chickens out. She knows that she chickens out, and she wants to be brave. An internal conflict is also character vs. self. Ana is overwhelmed with the craziness of Tali’s birthday party. Puerto Rican people celebrate turning 15 like the American tradition of “sweet 16.” They call it a quinceañera (quince for short). Ana’s mom has a long list of things to do for Tali’s quince and this is making Ana stressed. Between buying everything, trying on things, finding an escort for the party, and planning everything, Ana feels like her mom is just always doing something for Tali. One theme of this story is that one lie can just build of another, and they can get more elaborate. This means that people shouldn’t tell lies. Another theme is not let your school fall behind for a boy. Ana didn’t let this happen, but almost did. She had a great friend, Phoebe, and her great sister, Tali, to help her out. Another theme is to not be selfish. Ana learned that she was being selfish with Osito, bit then fixed her mistake. This means that people shouldn’t use other people, pets, etc. just to get attention from someone else. The tone of this book is friendly, funny, and cheerful. The author wrote it in a cheerful way. There are ways in which this book can be humorous through how silly Ana was being throughout the story with her lies when she could’ve just told the truth right away. The mood of this story is also humorous. As a reader you might giggle a little bit at Ana and Calvin’s dogs playing together. You might also laugh at Ana and Calvin’s texts about pugs. The author’s word choice was good in this book. There wasn’t hard vocabulary words, but it was definitely not bland short words. The writing style of this book is a funny, easy read. It’s not hard to read, but the book is hard to put down. It starts to get really good towards the end. I think the author had good character description in this book. I could easily tell the type of teenagers that Ana, Tali, Phoebe, and Calvin were when I started reading their dialog. I could also tell what type of teenager Ana was through her thoughts. All the teenagers were very smart, and were good with school. They helped each other and cared about others. The author developed a good storyline well. I had to finish the book right away! The story flowed smoothly. I would recommend this book to people from the grades of fifth to seventh. That is the age when kids start to get crushes, and this book involves a crush. I would mostly recommend this book to girls though, because the main character is a girl, and there is a lot of girly stuff, like wearing dresses written in the book. Over all I really enjoyed this book and I hope to see that other people do too. This was a cute and fun read for me!
“Pugs and Kisses,” by J.J Howard, is a fun realistic fiction story. It is written in first person and is told by a Puerto Rican middle school girl named Ana Ramos. She lives in a walk-up apartment in New York City, with a mom, dad, and older sister that is turning 15. The story starts out with Ana’s birthday, and her birthday wish is to get a dog. Her mom doesn’t like pets, so she knows it will be hard to convince her mom to get a dog. Ana has been practicing her dog walking skills because the women just above their apartment has a dog. This women, Mrs. Ramirez, is getting older and has some issues with her back. So it is hard for her to walk her little black pug, Osito. She has trouble walking up and down five flights of stairs. Ana helps Mrs. R. everyday by taking Osito to the dog run at the park. Ana meets a cute boy, named Calvin, at the park one weekend who also has a pug, named Pancake. He was super nice to her, and she learned that he was new to New York City. Thinking that she wouldn’t see him anytime soon, she met him at school on Monday as he was announced the new student to the school in her same grade. They had a lot of the same classes and Ana learned that he was just as smart as she was. Ana has always gotten straight A’s since forever and she was hoping to win the smartest student award that school year. Her best friend Phoebe had warned Ana that Calvin could be a little competition because he was smart too. Ana started meeting Calvin at the park after school so they could hang out along with their dogs. Calvin assumes that Osito is Ana’s dog, and she doesn’t correct him. As she starts to play along with it, her lies get worse and she gets caught up in a web of lies and it’s hard for her to just confess to Calvin. This books is about her trying to keep her school work up, stay friends with Calvin while telling some white lies about Osito, and on top of that, trying to get ready for her sister’s big fiftieth birthday. Ana is a smart girl who wants to keep her grades up but gets distracted over this cute boy Calvin. The main characters in this story are Ana, Calvin,
Phoebe, Ana’s older sister, Tali, and Ana’s parents. Ana loves to code on computers, be an engineer when she grows up, and hang out with her best friend, Phoebe. She also loves the little black pug above her apartment, Osito. Ana learns throughout the story that she can’t get distracted from her important school work by a boy. She also learns that she shouldn’t be selfish about using Mrs. R’s dog as a way to talk to a boy. She used to take Osito for walks to help Mrs. R, and because she loved Osito. Then she started to use Osito to go to places with Calvin. Ana did learn from her mistake. She stopped being selfish and learned from her actions. She also learned that her schoolwork should come first. You can tell that Ana has a crush on Calvin through her actions because she blushes a lot when she is around him and when he talks to her sometimes. You can also tell that she knows that she needs to stop lying to Calvin through her thoughts. She has to make a website project in her coding class, and one of her website ideas was to stop people from lying. She thought about how she could make it so it knew when she lied and it stopped her. But then she thought about it and realized that she can only stop herself from lying, not a website. The main conflict is character vs. self. Ana knows her lies that she tells to Calvin are building up, but she is to scared to tell him the truth. She knows that if she tells the truth this late that it would be awkward and he would be mad. Every time she gathers the courage to say something she always chickens out. She knows that she chickens out, and she wants to be brave. An internal conflict is also character vs. self. Ana is overwhelmed with the craziness of Tali’s birthday party. Puerto Rican people celebrate turning 15 like the American tradition of “sweet 16.” They call it a quinceañera (quince for short). Ana’s mom has a long list of things to do for Tali’s quince and this is making Ana stressed. Between buying everything, trying on things, finding an escort for the party, and planning everything, Ana feels like her mom is just always doing something for Tali. One theme of this story is that one lie can just build of another, and they can get more elaborate. This means that people shouldn’t tell lies. Another theme is not let your school fall behind for a boy. Ana didn’t let this happen, but almost did. She had a great friend, Phoebe, and her great sister, Tali, to help her out. Another theme is to not be selfish. Ana learned that she was being selfish with Osito, bit then fixed her mistake. This means that people shouldn’t use other people, pets, etc. just to get attention from someone else. The tone of this book is friendly, funny, and cheerful. The author wrote it in a cheerful way. There are ways in which this book can be humorous through how silly Ana was being throughout the story with her lies when she could’ve just told the truth right away. The mood of this story is also humorous. As a reader you might giggle a little bit at Ana and Calvin’s dogs playing together. You might also laugh at Ana and Calvin’s texts about pugs. The author’s word choice was good in this book. There wasn’t hard vocabulary words, but it was definitely not bland short words. The writing style of this book is a funny, easy read. It’s not hard to read, but the book is hard to put down. It starts to get really good towards the end. I think the author had good character description in this book. I could easily tell the type of teenagers that Ana, Tali, Phoebe, and Calvin were when I started reading their dialog. I could also tell what type of teenager Ana was through her thoughts. All the teenagers were very smart, and were good with school. They helped each other and cared about others. The author developed a good storyline well. I had to finish the book right away! The story flowed smoothly. I would recommend this book to people from the grades of fifth to seventh. That is the age when kids start to get crushes, and this book involves a crush. I would mostly recommend this book to girls though, because the main character is a girl, and there is a lot of girly stuff, like wearing dresses written in the book. Over all I really enjoyed this book and I hope to see that other people do too. This was a cute and fun read for me!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 17, 2021
This book can be used as a source for inspiration for young girls, especially any that identify as Latina. The main character loves coding and programing, making her both modern and inspirational. She is of Puerto Rican descent as well, and readers get to see a bit of Puerto Rican culture through her sister's Quinceañera and the food her family eats. As a Puerto Rican myself, the talk of pastelillos and other delicious foods made me hungry!
I hope you found this review helpful!
I hope you found this review helpful!
May 17, 2021
Great book. I really liked it, especially at the end.
December 30, 2023
So I loved this dog story book! I read this last February and had given this to my cousin fir Valentine's Day as she likes dogs. She may not have a pug but a big St Bernard but hey a dog is a dog right?? And this is certainly a very sweet story too.
This is the story of a girl who gets tangled up in a very complicated mess and she doesn't know how to get out of it. She meets this cute boy who is her friend and they both walk pugs. But she does not own the dog she is walking. But she told him it was her dog! And now she is stuck in this lie. Opps!!
I may not have a dog but I can relate to this situation. I do tend to tell everyone that George is my horse. And I consider him my horse too. He is the one I ride out at Willow Creek. But I don't own him. Someone else who I never met owns him. Yet I consider George mine. Those are the words I use. I say "George is my horse". But often later I will clarify and say I don't own him. Because owning a horse is very expensive. But I do ride him every week and now I am learning two point. Anyway my point is that I can certainly relate to the problem of the main character.
And its a cute story with cute characters too. I enjoyed it. And it was perfect as a Valentine Day read but yet was very light on the romance. Which is what I had wanted. And I actually remember this one very well all the way from last February! Heck its almost January now! So like 11 months ago and I remember it. Now there is a good book! I remember she lived in an apartment building and there were lots of walks in parks and a party in the book too? Cute book...
This is the story of a girl who gets tangled up in a very complicated mess and she doesn't know how to get out of it. She meets this cute boy who is her friend and they both walk pugs. But she does not own the dog she is walking. But she told him it was her dog! And now she is stuck in this lie. Opps!!
I may not have a dog but I can relate to this situation. I do tend to tell everyone that George is my horse. And I consider him my horse too. He is the one I ride out at Willow Creek. But I don't own him. Someone else who I never met owns him. Yet I consider George mine. Those are the words I use. I say "George is my horse". But often later I will clarify and say I don't own him. Because owning a horse is very expensive. But I do ride him every week and now I am learning two point. Anyway my point is that I can certainly relate to the problem of the main character.
And its a cute story with cute characters too. I enjoyed it. And it was perfect as a Valentine Day read but yet was very light on the romance. Which is what I had wanted. And I actually remember this one very well all the way from last February! Heck its almost January now! So like 11 months ago and I remember it. Now there is a good book! I remember she lived in an apartment building and there were lots of walks in parks and a party in the book too? Cute book...
November 29, 2019
{My thoughts} – Ana is a sweet girl. She helps her upstairs neighbor out by walking her dog for her. Her upstairs neighbor is elderly and cannot manage to go up and down five flights of stairs on a regular basis. So, since she can’t do that, she pays Ana to do it for her. Which is a win win situation for Ana. Ana wants a dog but her mom won’t let her have one, so in a way this allows her to have a dog, since she spends so much time with her neighbors dog, Osito.
Once day Ana is out walking Osito at the park and she runs into Calvin and his dog Pancake. Pancake and Osito hit it off as well as Ana and Calvin do. The problem is that Calvin assumes that Osito is Ana’s dog and she does nothing to correct him from thinking it. Instead that little lie ends up festering into bunches of bigger more not so good lies.
When it is time for Ana to finally come clean her and Calvin end up not being on good terms. It does take them a bit, but they do eventually work through all the bad. Ana’s sister and best friend help to ensure that things don’t go too sour when they are working through things.
I really enjoyed this book. I love reading this soft crush books. I can see some of them actually happening in a child’s life and others not so much. But this is one of those where I Can picture the characters and their happy ever after. I really liked how everything was pulled together in the end. I look forward to reading more books by this author in the future, there is for sure some incredible talent in her writing!
Once day Ana is out walking Osito at the park and she runs into Calvin and his dog Pancake. Pancake and Osito hit it off as well as Ana and Calvin do. The problem is that Calvin assumes that Osito is Ana’s dog and she does nothing to correct him from thinking it. Instead that little lie ends up festering into bunches of bigger more not so good lies.
When it is time for Ana to finally come clean her and Calvin end up not being on good terms. It does take them a bit, but they do eventually work through all the bad. Ana’s sister and best friend help to ensure that things don’t go too sour when they are working through things.
I really enjoyed this book. I love reading this soft crush books. I can see some of them actually happening in a child’s life and others not so much. But this is one of those where I Can picture the characters and their happy ever after. I really liked how everything was pulled together in the end. I look forward to reading more books by this author in the future, there is for sure some incredible talent in her writing!
January 30, 2019
I think it was a cute story. Its about a girl named Ana and a boy named Calvin. Calvin had a pug named pancake which is a sweet girl pug. Ana didn't have a pug but she did have her neighbour Mrs. Rs pug Osito pancake was a beige pug and Osito was a black pug now I'm gonna tell you the what it say on the back.Ana Ramos may not have a dog of her own. but she does get to walk her neighbours adorable pug , Osito. one day at the park, Osito befriends another pug, whose owner happens to be a cute boy named Calvin, when Calvin assumes that Osito belongs to Ana, she Dosen't correct him. no big deal right? Ana Dosen't realize the trouble she has unleashed until Calvin shows up at her school. Calvin suggests setting up Play dates for the two pugs, and Ana can't bring herself to admit that Ositos isn't hers.in fact her fibs keep Mulitiplying will Ana fess up and figure out how she feels about Calvin before her white lies catch up to her?
November 17, 2018
In this book we meet Ana and her pug friend Osito whom she walks for the lady in her building who can't get out often.
She meets Calvin and his pug Pancake when out walking and soon the pair become friends after he joins her school too!
However, he doesn't know that Osito isnt her dog but her neighbours, how will he react when or if he finds out?
Ana was an admirable protagonist in helping her neighbour neighbours care for her pet how she does and also serving the double purpose of letting her enjoy time with a dog she so desires herself! The relationship between the pair was sweet and we saw how much Osito adores her too, Ana and Calvin were a great pairing and made this love story more cuter!
She meets Calvin and his pug Pancake when out walking and soon the pair become friends after he joins her school too!
However, he doesn't know that Osito isnt her dog but her neighbours, how will he react when or if he finds out?
Ana was an admirable protagonist in helping her neighbour neighbours care for her pet how she does and also serving the double purpose of letting her enjoy time with a dog she so desires herself! The relationship between the pair was sweet and we saw how much Osito adores her too, Ana and Calvin were a great pairing and made this love story more cuter!
February 27, 2020
When Ana is walking her neighbor's dog Osito in the dog park, she meets a cute boy named Calvin who has a dog named Pancake. Calvin thinks that Osito is Ana's dog while Osito really isn't. She knows she has to tell him but before she can, Calvin invites her over for dinner so their dogs can play. Ana knows she has to tell him but when will it be the right time? I thought that this book was really good. I liked how the author makes you wait and makes you think that Ana is going to tell Calvin but then she doesn't. It keeps you in suspense with every turn of the page. I would recommend this book to students in grades 6-8. I would also recommend this book to people who love realistic fiction and dog books.
August 17, 2020
Ana Ramos is happy to walk her neighbor's dog, Osito. When she meets a cute new boy at the dog park, she accidentally lets him believe the pug is hers. As they become better friends, she knows she needs to tell the truth, but her lies snowball. Will Ana be able to make things right and not mess things up with Calvin?
I read this book with my 10-year-old who is a big lover of pugs. It's a nicely written story not only about adorable pugs, but about a girl with a crush who is smart and awkward and has gotten herself into a lie she doesn't know how to get out of. It's good to see real family and friend relationships, and how everyone deals with what's going on.
I read this book with my 10-year-old who is a big lover of pugs. It's a nicely written story not only about adorable pugs, but about a girl with a crush who is smart and awkward and has gotten herself into a lie she doesn't know how to get out of. It's good to see real family and friend relationships, and how everyone deals with what's going on.
Want to read
April 14, 2020This book was very good! It started with a girl who lives in New York City taking her elderly neighbors dog on a walk on her birthday but her family totally forgot that it was her birthday because they where so focused on her older sisters Quinceañeraand nobody even noticed her and they made her go and pick up some of her sisters birthday supplies when she also meets a boy in Central park that just moved here and is looking for some new friends! I really liked the plot and storyline! i would for sure read this book again!
July 8, 2018
While walking her neighbor's Pug, Ana encounters an adorable fawn Pug, Pancake, attached to an adorable boy her age. She harmlessly lets him believe Osito is her own Pug, figuring it can't really hurt anything. However, when that cute Pug-owning boy turns out to be the new kid at her school, Ana finds herself spinning an uncontrollable web of lies. This book was fun, lighthearted, and a really fast read. I'd recommend this to any 6/7th grader who loves dog and is looking for a cute romance.
February 19, 2020
I really really really liked this book. It was very discriptive and had a really good plot and ending. The story starts in New York when she wakes up on her birthday and realizes that her mom totally forgot that it was her birthday. She goes to her neighbors and walks there dog named Osito. She has always wanted a dog and she wants to go and visit the animal shelter. While she is outside in central park and boy around her age witha pug names Pancake.
January 4, 2021
I got Pugs and Kisses from my school Book Fair. I saw this posted from Scholastic, and it looked interesting to me. When I read the first chapter, I was seriously entrigued. I don't like to read when I'm told to, and I don't like to a lot, but this really got me into it. If you hate to read thick books, I completely understand; I hate them as well, but this will really entertain you. Have fun reading!
September 23, 2021
I like this book a lot! It has a good plot with some drama in it. I like it because of all the cliffhangers in it. It's kind of relatable to real life. It didn't make me get bored of it. The setting is not the same as the entire book which makes it better. It has intense parts where people are rushing to get home.
January 29, 2024
Ana walks her elderly neighbors out for her and meets a new boy to the area, Calvin, who also has a pug. Ana and Calvin have lots of pug dates and become good friends until the misleading story of whose pug Ana is walking comes between them.
This is a cute story meant for YA but is cute for any age that loves dog stories.
This is a cute story meant for YA but is cute for any age that loves dog stories.
September 30, 2025
A cute, fast-paced romcom I absolutely loved! The story follows Ana, who's so desperate for a dog that she accidentally claims ownership of her neighbor’s pug, Osito. Enter Calvin, a total sweetheart who just moved to New York with his family and their adorable pug, Pancake. It's a charming, funny, and heartwarming story.
January 23, 2026
I grabbed this quick juvie story from the library for a reading challenge. It was too cute and two middle schoolers and their (?) dogs bond with each other. I really enjoyed it despite getting quite itchy with how the lies snowballed for a while!
Content: one swear, lying (not excused, but called fibbing)
Content: one swear, lying (not excused, but called fibbing)
December 15, 2018
I read this book with my two daughters. We all enjoyed it! I like that the main character, Ana, is smart and focused on learning, especially computer coding. I also liked that she was Latina and that her culture was a big part of the book. I thought she was a good role model for young girls.
April 13, 2020
This book was very touching and sweet. I love reading this story especially when I have 4 pugs myself, 3 fawn and 1 black. They're my babies and I would use them for anything just like the main character did, but only for their cuteness.
August 10, 2021
This book is a very good book for younger-aged kids. It has humor and a little bit of romance and of course as you cant tell by the cover it has dogs! I loved this book so much I read it twice I definitely recommend it! 10/10 Have fun reading it if you decide to! :)))
January 30, 2018
What another wonderful book by JJ Howard! Love the story line!!
February 27, 2018
This book isn't great literature but it is a sweet story that I think would likely appeal to most young middle school girls. It follows the traditional romantic movie formula.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews