This is a very fun book. Officer Buckle likes to think up Safety Tips and present them to children all over the country. Whenever he goes to give a speech to the children, he brings his companion Gloria. It is not until Gloria, a new police dog, adds humor to the safety show that it becomes popular. When Officer Buckle sees that the kids are more interested in Gloria than in him his feelings are hurt.

This is a very fun book. An excellent book that would be good for children and this book teaches a number of good safety tips.
For your classroom make a list of safety rules and have a local police officer come talk to the students about safety. Great for grades K-4. ( )

Officer Buckle knows more about safety than anyone in the town of Napville. But whenever he tries to share his safety tips, nobody listens.Until, that is, the Napville Police Department buys a police dog named Gloria. Gloria has different ways of demnstrating safety tips to the town! www.readwritethink.org has lots of activities and lessons that children and adults alike would enjoy.

This picture book is about Officer Buckle and his boring safety presentations that are brought to life when he introduces his new police dog, Gloria. This is a great book for elementary children to read. The illustrations are wonderful (although not as vivid as the animated version, of course), which is why the book received The Caldecott Medal. The expressions on the students' faces as well as Gloria's really tell the story and it is easy to see the mood of the safety presentations both before and after Gloria was introduced. I recommend this book for my library (medium public library). ( )

Genre: Fantasy

This is a good example of fantasy because although it is rather normal for a police officer to share safety tips in schools, his dog Gloria is special. She acts out every safety tip, such as being electrocuted (jump up with hair standing on end) sitting on a tac (jumping up and grabbing her bottom) and falling (balancing on her head) making the students excited to learn about safety. However, dogs are not capable of acting out safety tips, making this book a fantasy.

Plot:
Beginning: Officer Buckle is taking up safety tips
Conflict: Officer Buckle's speeches are boring and put children to sleep
Climax: Gloria is given to Officer Buckle, but he doesn't like her because she steals the spotlight, so he quits and there is a big accident
Resolution: Officer Buckle realizes he likes working with Gloria and goes back to giving speeches
End: Officer Buckle and Gloria are a team again, and very good friends.

Media: Acrylic

I love this book, but the video added another layer to it. It was fun to see Gloria do all of her tricks, and somehow, when a book is read aloud, it's just more fun. The makers of the short film did a good job translating Rathmann's award winning pictures into animation, and john Lithogw reads the story with a lot of heart. Of course the story itself, which is about safety yes, but also the power of friendship and teamwork, is where all the magic takes place. ( )