Rockwell: A Boy and His Dog — Loren Spiotta-Dimare

One more title in Barron's series of picture storybooks about famous artists and ordinary kids, this delightful tale is a fictionalized incident in the lives of Norman Rockwell and Scotty Ingram, a kid who often posed for Rockwell's illustrations. In this story, Rockwell is having trouble finding exactly the right model to pose with Scotty for a series of four calendar illustrations. The sought-after model turns out to be a dog -- but the canine shouldn't be too small or too large. None of the dogs Rockwell sees in his pleasant New England town of Stockbridge quite fills the bill. Then Scotty finds a friendly stray beagle, and this little dog turns out to be perfect for their pictures. But the Beagle has a surprise for them both -- a surprise that adds a truly memorable touch to Norman Rockwell's fourth and final calendar painting. This charming story is complemented with attractive illustrations on every page, including reproductions of Rockwell's four calendar illustrations of the boy and his dog.