The paintings are beautiful; this one probably works best as an art book or gift book than anything else. It's hard to determine what the target demographic is -- it's a bit too grown-up for the picture book crowd, too sparse for the chapter book crowd, and too short for the adults who are into personal development / life tips.

I'm not going to deny that Janet Hill is a very talented artist, that isn't up for debate, the whole design of this book is. Her work is very loose and combined with the overly crisp text and leaf pattern behind each "lesson" the words and the art aren't balanced, and the graphic quality makes the art look sloppy. Plus the use of the Ribbon font from Lost Type Co-op makes this book feel dated. Fonts on Lost Type Co-op have a very quick half-life so shouldn't be used in book design. The only part of the "narrative" I liked was the class picture of all the dogs under her care and I think if this book had gone in a more Madeline direction, especially considering the looseness of Ludwig Bemelmans's art, this could have been a sweet and endearing book, instead of just a quick ten minute read.