In Walter Does His Best by Eva Pilgrim, Walter is a good dog, or at least he tries really hard to be. Kids will enjoy his misadventures – digging in the neighbor’s garden, giving up his seat on the subway, helping ducks to cross the street – even though his owner certainly does not. As each of Walter’s attempts to help go ever more and more awry, the illustrations and text get more outrageous, and more hilarious – the page where Walter tries to impress strangers with his repertoire of tricks got more than a few chuckles here, although, later on, my niblings agreed that bringing a dog to a musical is Not. A Good Idea. And after all of his exhausting efforts to help and be kind, how is Walter rewarded? With the most objectionable task ever – a bath?! How dare! But in the true story’s end, Walter’s owner does see the effort he’s putting in, and he gets his well-deserved reward.
The book’s best line is “Walter you don’t have to be perfect to be kind. You don’t even have to get it right all of the time.” Showing kids that their efforts (which will hopefully be less chuckle-worthy than Walter’s) have merit whether or not they manage to achieve their goal is an excellent moral. 
Thankfully, it’s expressed in a humorous manner that kids will laugh along with, and cheer when Walter gets his just desserts. It’s cute, it’s quick, and Walter is a fun loving, trying-hard kind of pup that I think will resonate with younger readers. Also, the book is high on the onomatopoeia scale, which littles love: Every “fer-snertttt” and “ker plop!” is guaranteed to get a giggle. Walter Does His Best also shows off a bunch of New York tourist highlights, and has sneaky little city details (and it’s not populated by all white faces, which is a nice touch of realism), so if you like books that show off the city that never sleeps, you should add this one to your list as well.
Since New York is featured prominently, I’m using this book for my City Scape square on CBR13Bingo.
My copy of #WalterDoesHisBest was provided for free & honest review via Netgalley, but it’s available at bookstores near you already, so you can grab it if you want it.
{Obligatory notice that if you are planning on buying books for Christmas/Holiday presents, even though it seems really early, you should start buying now, because there are tons of supply chain issues, and there’s not going to be as many options close to the holidays as there usually are. Welcome to the global economy in times of climate change, labor shortages, pandemic, and late-stage capitalism. 
}