Summer Reading Day 66: Hey, everyone! Our book today was Excellent Ed, written by Stacy McAnulty and with illustrations by Julia Sarcone-Roach. This sweet story is about a little dog named Ed, the youngest “child” of the Ellis family. Ed wants to excel at something, like his siblings do, so he will be allowed to do things like sit on the couch and eat at the dinner table, but he is unsure what makes him “excellent.”

This is such a great story on so many levels. First, the main theme is about finding what makes each individual uniquely excellent: Ed finds that while his siblings are better at many of the things he tries, no one is better than him at warming feet or greeting them at the door. In this way too, it’s also a love letter to pet dogs, and their special place in a family. Furthermore, it has a great repetitive use of the letter E (every character has a first and last name beginning with the letter, as well and frequent use of “e” words), and centers around a POC family in a story that is not focused on diversity or cultural issues (as many children’s POC characters are relegated to doing).

All in all, this was a great book. Adorable illustrations, great length and theme, sweet story, and JJ loved hearing about Ed’s adventures. Baby Bookworm approved!