Pedigrees

Too often, I assume children know things they do not know! This week it was the meaning of pedigree in Henry Huggins. The Woofies Dog Food Company sponsors a dog show in the park, and Mr. Pennycuff, the Lucky Dog Pet Shop owner, encourages Henry to enter Ribsy. The neighborhood children decide to enter the dog show as well, and some are certain to win because their dogs have pedigrees.

We talked about what that means. In most classes, the children have not a clue of the word's meaning. One child thought it meant a degree that dogs get after completing puppy school. One clever child described it well as "a dog paper that tells it is a breed." I wonder how they would have processed the rest of the chapter without that important information.