Getting a dog can be a wonderful moment in a family’s life—or the beginning of a bad situation for everyone. In Are You Ready for Me? engaging text and colorful, detail-filled pictures describe the responsibilities and joys of dog ownership in the lives of two children. A dog and a pup waiting to be chosen at an animal adoption center pose questions that show what it will mean to bring a dog into one’s family.The book’s final page offers a We Are Ready to Have a Dog Contract with questions to check off; children and parents together will be able to decide whether they really are ready. A link to The Gryphon Press website offers bonuses, including a Ready for Dog Ownership Certificate and even an award certificate for children who are mature enough to realize that they and a dog are not a good match at this point in the child’s life. Are You Ready for Me? is a book that every dog-loving family will want to own. Parents and grandparents will enjoy giving the book as a delightful way to lead up to both the exhilarating moment of adoption and a lifetime of mutual happiness. Claire Buchwald, author of four children’s picture books, including Max Talks to Me (The Gryphon Press, 2007), has a PhD in communications and works to promote children’s creativity.Artist Amelia Hanson has illustrated twenty previous titles, including At the Dog Park with Sam and Lucy (The Gryphon Press, 2006).