Jake and the Pandemic

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Pub Date 03 May 2021 | Archive Date 15 Sep 2022

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Description

Who said dogs can't write books?!? Written in December of 2020, this heartwarming story was created to help open the door to more honest and heartfelt conversations with our little ones. Jake’s story helps children navigate through the pandemic while being helpful, humorous and, ultimately, hopeful.

Written in "first doggy," children can easily relate to Jake's experiences of 2020 as he shifts to online learning, is forced to stay home more often and dearly misses his friends. Jake's story helps children learn they are not alone in this big world of emotions. Both children and adults alike get a kick out of finding Jake's squirrel friend, Stuart, throughout the book. This is a feel-good type of book and a keepsake to share with future generations about this historic time we are all living through.

Who said dogs can't write books?!? Written in December of 2020, this heartwarming story was created to help open the door to more honest and heartfelt conversations with our little ones. Jake’s...


A Note From the Publisher

Hardcover available

Hardcover available


Advance Praise

"""Hardy portrays the pooch's struggles with anxiety and loneliness in a considerate, heartfelt manner. Wally_LL's adorable, vivid illustrations present engaging, sometimes silly scenes, including Jake practicing yoga."" - Kirkus Reviews

""Chris Hardy's picture book story (well, really, it's Jake's book), Jake and the Pandemic, is a clever and humorous way to open up the discussion for young readers so they can try to better understand what's happening in the world around them...beautifully told and presented."" - Emily-Jane Hills Orford for Readers Favorite"

"""Hardy portrays the pooch's struggles with anxiety and loneliness in a considerate, heartfelt manner. Wally_LL's adorable, vivid illustrations present engaging, sometimes silly scenes, including...


Available Editions

EDITION Hardcover
ISBN 9781736323502
PRICE $14.99 (USD)

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Average rating from 33 members


Featured Reviews

Jake is a dog who doesn't really know what's going on when the pandemic started. He's lost, confused, lonely, and anxious. But his (human) mom tells him that it's okay to feel that way and that they'll get through this pandemic together. She shows him ways to cope (playing games as a family, planting new seeds, etc.) and gives him hope that they'll return to a normal life again.

What I really enjoyed about this book was that there was an acceptance of those feelings. I hear too many times of people who grew up with parents who dismissed their emotions. Even though this book doesn't go into all the issues caused by the pandemic (death, sickness, losing a job, etc.), it is from the perspective of a young child, so some of these things don't matter as much. The book could have benefited from adding a small section about death, but maybe that's just my opinion.

Bonus points: the dog in the book is based off of a dog in real life! Very cute.

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I felt like this was a cute and wholesome way to introduce what happened to young kids. However, I wish there was more information. The illustrations were cute and colorful.

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What a cute book with engaging illustrations to help kids process and talk about the pandemic, with their parents and teachers. I look forward to reading this book with my students and listening to them reflect on their experiences and feelings.

I hope this author writes more children's books about Jake!

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Jake and the Pandemic followed the life of Jake the dog throughout the coronavirus lockdown. The rise of post-pandemic children’s literature is something that I find to be a great way of helping younger children understand and come to terms with the confusion and stress of the pandemic.

The illustrations were actually quite funny, especially the dogs and squirrels in masks! I felt it could have had a little more depth to the writing but it is a fun little read.

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I think this book accomplishes exactly what it set out to do. It's meant to help young children and students process their emotions as they recover from the trauma of a life-changing lockdown and learn to live in our "new normal" world. As a teacher, I've worked with many students who are dealing with both educational and emotional delays due to the trauma of COVID-19 and lockdown. While teachers have been excellent in helping to bring students back to where they need to be academically, it's been hard to find good resources for to help students process their emotions and understand the world around them.

The artwork in here was adorable - Jake is definitely a warm and friendly character that children will love. He's exactly the type of character that helps to make a harder topic more approachable and calming for young kids. The language was appropriate and I think many children will be able to relate to the story and use it as a starting point to have discussions with their teachers, therapists, and families about their emotions related to the pandemic.

I do think it could be expanded a bit towards the end - it felt like quite an abrupt ending. Although, I understand it's hard to write about a post-COVID world and a "new normal" when we aren't even living it yet.

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We loved this book! What a great way to incorporate current events into digestible messages for young children struggling with the unknowns of the pandemic. The graphics were very well done and searching for Stuart added an interactive component to this book. I loved the positive messaging around universal feelings when faced when uncertainty and the messages of unity and hope. This was a perfect little book for little people and adults alike!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review and opinion. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Highly recommend this book!

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Can kids books ever be any cuter than when based on real life animals? I think not.
Jake is a real-live dog and he's a covid pup. So obviously he knows what he's talking about when it comes to the safety of wearing masks, social distancing, and (ultimately) getting the vaccine.
One thing of note here is that the book ends with the vaccine having just been discovered. So this is a bit of an outdated story (if you will). However as far as I'm concerned all the same rules and limitations should apply as we have not yet produced a vaccine that stops infection (merely delays it or reduces it's severity). So I wouldn't at all think that anything else in Jake and the Pandemic has changed very much.
The most exciting part of the book is perhaps the ending in which we learn there is a whole line of books coming out where Jake the dog explains the world to us! So great!
Chris Hardy presents a difficult and scary topic in a really friendly and accessible way. I would definitely recommend this for anyone who has to try and explain to a little one what is happening. Even as we are now outside the 'immediate' pandemic danger of covid-19 I think it's still important to teach kids what can happen and how to be prepared. Inevitably there will be another pandemic. Whether it's a strain of covid-19, a new virus all together, or a strain of the flu; I have certainly about one thing, the environment sees us as a parasite and is going to keep trying to kill us off. That is just the way evolution and biology work; thus we should prepare children to tackle it with open, honest communication, just like Jake does here.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

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This is an excellent resource to get kids talking about their thoughts, feelings, and experiences during the pandemic. It retells the story of how things happened so suddenly in March 2020 and all the changes and uncertainties that went with it. Using kid-friendly language, it acknowledges both the hard parts and the silver linings we found.

Jake the dog is adorable and the illustrations are bright and lively, with lots of fun details for kids to notice. The tone is very validating of all kinds of feelings and reactions, but the overall message is hopeful, both for the future and for the ability of the human spirit to adapt and still find good in the world. This would make an excellent circle-time read at school, but also a great one-one-one read with a caregiver to help kids process and make sense of their experiences.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!

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I loved this book. I loved how the author explained the difficulties of living life in the pandemic age and also outlined some of the hidden gems. It will ease the fears of every child that is struggling with all the changes life has thrown at him/her over the last two years. The graphics were outstanding and I loved the added activity of searching for Stuart throughout the book. Who doesn't love Jake? I think any child would enjoy this book.

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This book is a very creative and cute way to teach children what a Pandemic is and what the country is going through at this time. It makes the experience less scary and intimidating since they are using dogs in this book and everyone loves dogs!

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What a sweet story about a young puppy trying to understand and cope with what we all know as the pandemic. I think it is so, so important for kids to have a way to understand what is happening in the world around them, and to find ways for them to help put their feelings of isolation into words.

I hope to see more books be published about the fear and anxiety surrounding the past couple of years. We all need the comfort.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC. All opinions are my own.

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Jake is the most adorable dog around. I love that he is based on a real dog and will continue to inspire us by sharing more stories. How fun to use this as am mentor text to inspire young writers to write a story featuring their pet or one they wish they had. I also love his friend, Stuart as a co-pilot in this story as he helps engage the reader with the illustrations. Animals can surely help our youngest readers navigate what is happening in their current world. At the end it says part of the profits will go to animal charities opening up to conversations about animal rescue and being a responsible animal owner.

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How cute! Aimed at children aged 4-8, Chris Hardy's Jake and the Pandemic is a warm and friendly explanation of life during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020.

Told through Jake's eyes, Wally_LL's adorable illustrations show how the quarantine affected daily life for young children. Disruptions to school and playtime, even shopping trips and visits with the neighbors, changed significantly during this time.

Chris Hardy's story is playful and reassuring, with a hopeful ending we can all get behind!

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Such a great book! It gives great insight into what it was like living in early stages of the pandemics and lockdowns yet it still install hope and empowerment within. great illustrations.

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Jake and the Pandemic is a really sweet story about a dog named Jake getting through the pandemic. His activities are like he's an actual human child, like helping to bake, going to school, and learning card games. I appreciated the sweet theme of being more thoughtful and helpful towards others.

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Jake and the Pandemic tells the story of the pandemic (specifically 2020) from the perspective of an anthropomorphic dog. Jake describes life before the pandemic and then how much things changed, including wearing masks, attending online school and having to stay inside a lot. Even though the story includes lots of things that dogs don't normally do, like mow the lawn or help make cookies, I think it is nice that the main character is a dog rather than a child. I think this brings a new layer of interest and engagement to the story because children can relate to the story with a bit more of a separation of their own experiences and those they are reading about. The book sends important messages about anxiety and mental health, especially the isolation related to the pandemic and how spending time with family and helping others in safe ways are great ways to get through difficult situations like this one. I think this is a nice book for parents of young children who are still experiencing some anxiety surrounding the pandemic or could benefit from reading positive stories about the recent past. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book!

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Really sweet book from a child's perspective during the pandemic. Baking and playing games with his family, helping neighbors with outside chores, gardening and growing food, and doing yoga. A lesson in patience and kindness.
One of my favorite things in picture books is having something to look for on each page. In Jake and the Pandemic it's Jake's squirrel friend Stuart.

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This book was super sweet and cute! The illustrations were adorable and I think kids will love spotting Jake’s squirrel friend. I also think this book will be helpful for kids trying to process the pandemic and how it affected them. Plus, I can’t help but love books that support rescue dogs! The writing was a bit simplistic, but I am not the target audience, kids are, and I am sure they won’t mind. :)

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With thanks to the author, publishers BooksGoSocial, and NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

This story of Jake the dog and his changing emotions before and during the Covid-19 pandemic is one that a lot of young kids will no doubt able to relate to. I thought that telling the story through the eyes of a dog was a fun and innovative way to get the message across to young readers.

The story tells of how Jake initially felt sad and afraid, but then happy and ultimately hopeful of an end to the pandemic, and that it was OK for him to feel each of these emotions. The book also shows how simple acts of kindness can have such a positive impact on others, especially those feeling the same way that Jake was.

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A sweet tale about a puppy trying to navigate the world during the pandemic.

Jake likes to spend time outside with all his friends, but one day he wakes up to his world changed. The places he loves are closed, everyone is wearing masks, and he is worried about the new reality he lives in.

This book is wonderful to explain how the pandemic affected life and the worries children might experience during. It offers solutions for anyone experiencing isolation with creative ways to stay healthy and active. A wonderful story with adorable artwork.

Thank you NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for the opportunity to read and review this book.

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This was a very simply written and straightforward book. It basically retells our experience during the pandemic through the eyes of a dog. The dog is representing a young child who lives with mom and dad and goes to online school. This is something I know my children, both biological and my students, will love to read in the upcoming years. They are still processing so much at the moment about what happened during the pandemic. Books are always the best way to learn, and ask questions, and help children process something. This will make a great addition to any home or classroom library!

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This is a cute book that would help kids see the brighter side of things in the pandemic and help young kids who didn’t understand at the time understand. I loved the little dogs in masks, fun graphics!

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Even if the Covid-19 pandemic is over, people of all ages still have angst about it and all the changes it made in our lives. In this reassuring little book, a furry dog and his nemesis (a squirrel) think about how things were before and during that time and look to the future with hope. The prose is simple and clear enough for ESL and/or children. The illustrations by Victoria Osipova are simple, delightful, colorful, vibrant, and imaginative.
Well suited for reading WITH someone of any age and also for ESL readers.
I really want to get one for my local public library!
I requested and received a free temporary e-book on Kindle from BooksGoSocial via NetGalley. Thank you!

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I really enjoyed reading Jake and the Pandemic. I enjoyed it so much that I read it to my nieces who are all under the age of eight and have all gone through the pandemic at different ages and with different understandings. They enjoyed listening to it and viewing the pictures as well! Chris Hardy did a fantastic job of depicting what the pandemic is while keeping the language and messaging at a level that a child would understand. The most important component of the book to me is that it continuously encouraged children to have hope that this pandemic will end one day, and things will be better, with tangible, real examples of how that could happen. The humanization of Jake as well worked well by allowing children to place themselves in Jake’s shoes with going to school online, only spending time with their immediate family in the house, and then finally going outside safely, like Jake riding his scooter and interacting with the people in his community. This is a great quick read for or even with kids and the illustrations are helpful and work perfectly with the story. My favorite was Jake and his little mask!

Thank you to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for an advanced copy of this book; all thoughts and opinions are my own.

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I thought it was very interesting to rad a book written from the dog's point of view. I really think that the pandemic affected animals who had their humans home all of a sudden. I enjoyed the story and illustrations of this book. It was nicely done and I have recommended it to the school librarian.

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