No dogs are allowed at La School d’Excellence in Paris. But mere rules are nothing to Bonaparte, devoted canine companion to young Jean-Claude. “I have come to fetch my boy,” Bonaparte tells the registrar when he arrives on the school doorstep. But children are discharged only to parents or guardians, not dogs. So Bonaparte dresses up as Jean-Claude’s mother. When that doesn’t work, he enrolls as a student, then gets a job in the cafeteria, and finally works as a school janitor--all to be near his beloved friend. Wendy Anderson Halperin’s pencil and watercolor illustrations are rich with details and highly amusing scenes. Dog and boy win out in the end. After all, some rules are made to be broken. (Ages 5-8)

Far from his village, Bonaparte is in Paris -- the Paris of bridges, carousels, and eclairs. But this is not a vacation, for Bonaparte is determined to find his boy, Jean Claude Jean, the newest student at La School d'Excellence.

How to gain admittance? Can Bonaparte pass for a percussionist in the band? A lunch lady? A janitor? Getting to Jean Claude is harder than it looks, because the registrar isn't fooled for long.

What will best friends do to be together? Whatever they have to, and in the process they change the rules for everyone until the sign reads: Now Dogs Allowed. Then the gates swing wide and it's agreed that La School d'Excellence has gone to the dogs -- in the best of all possible ways.

Paris glows in cozy detail and a dog in chapeaux has never been more charming, making for a dog-and-his-boy story not soon forgotten.