Name of Book: Charlie the Ranch Dog

Author: Ree Drummond

Publisher: Harper Collins

ISBN: 978-0061996559

Audience: Ages 3-8

Summary: Charlie is a ranch dog. Breakfast with bacon is his life. He has dangly ears, floppy skin, and big fat paws. He loves living in the country because he works like a dog. It’s all work, all the time for Charlie the ranch dog. In fact, he’s probably working right now doing what he does best….sleeping!

Literary elements at work in the story: Using comic irony and cozy illustrations,  Drummond and DeGroat deliver a a story that will have children and adults chuckling to the end. Readers will also enjoy finding his chipmunk friend in each picture.

How does the perspective on gender/race/culture/economics/ability make a difference to the story: Charlie is everyone. He purports to be a working dog, and although everyone knows he it not, no one seems to mind because he always comes through when it counts.

Scripture: Galatians 5:26

Theology: “Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.” The writer here in Galatians is talking to folks who were prone to value the advantages of birth and blood. What counts, the writer says, is how we act, not who we are in the pecking order of life. Charlie knows this. Sure he is conceited, but in the end, when it really counts, he does what he is called to do. We all need to keep our minds open to what Christ has called us to do. If we do, even if conceit creeps in, we will, like Charlie, be successful. If we don’t we may wind up filled with envy and acting as if we were called by evil rather than by God.

Faith Talk Questions:

1. Have you ever been asked to do something and not done it or had someone else do it for you like Charlie and Suzie?
2. What did Charlie like to do the most?
3. What do you like to do the most?
4. Have you ever done something you like to do rather than what you were asked to do?
5. The scripture also says we should not think we are better than someone else. Have you ever thought you were better than someone….say a person who doesn’t dress or look nice.?  Or someone not as smart as you?
6. What should we do if we find ourselves thinking we are better than others or wanting what others have?

Charlie the Ranch Dog by Storypath is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.