Children’s Books: Loose Leashes by Amy and Ron Schmidt

The art in Loose Leashes (Random House) is all photo-based. The kind of charming, carefully set up and almost painfully clear photographs of dogs very popular in the 1990s. The big difference here is that each photo is paired with a little poem -- one that rhymes -- that turns the photo into a story.

Can you feel my eyes upon you, melting you with my stare?
I know we’re very different. We’d make an awkward pair.

This next to a photo of a very small champagne-colored dog -- perhaps a French bulldog? -- and a Great Dane of the same color, but 20 times larger.

Ron Schmidt is a photographer who once-upon-a-time focused on models and celebrities but who now specializes in “taking photos of man’s best friend.” Amy Schmidt, Ron’s wife, was responsible for the poems and her bio informs us that, as a couple, they advocate for “animal welfare and literacy.” Which means they’re hitting on all cylinders with Loose Leashes. And it really is a thoroughly charming book. Little readers aged three to eight should enjoy the wonderful photos and the happy prose.