SUITABLE for readers seven and up is this new and gorgeously illustrated collection of exciting stories.

Carlie Sorosiak is a long-term lover of dogs and bestselling children’s author, making her the perfect person for the job. However, there’s more to the story that inspired World Of Dogs.

When she rescued what she thought was a shepherd mix whose behaviours didn’t seem to line up with what she knew of the breed, it was the vet who told her her dog was actually an American dingo.

To her surprise, this was a breed she’d never heard of, and with love and curiosity, she set out to learn everything she could about her dog’s true needs and personality.

In discovering a preference for a raw meat diet and a shyness inherited from being a descendant of wild dogs who rarely interacted with humans, Sorosiak also learned how much care and interest she and other owners want to put into their pets.

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While you can open up this book at any page and discover fun and self-contained facts or illustrated stories, or even just flick through for the beautiful illustrations, there is an equally satisfying flow from reading beginning to end.

One can follow Sorosiak’s own heartwarming story of learning about and fulfilling her own dog’s needs, into evolution relating to skills, physical features and personality traits. Though many facts from this section stand out, it’s fascinating to consider that dogs today share 99% of their DNA with wolves.

There is an emphasis in this section on how, from the time they were those very wolves, they have been walking and evolving by the side of humans, growing together from hunting for food or pulling sleds. While nowadays they are often domestic pets, the dogs of today and their predecessors have always been connected to – and, of course, appreciated by – humans.

This enduring friendship is a touching consistency to remind us why so many of us have cared for dogs for so long.

These emotional and evolutionary links, however, are not the only things to take note of. Providing something for everyone to enjoy, there’s also a science element, exploring the way dogs perceive the world on a sensory level and the way in which they communicate.

There are endless stories to be told, including dogs in ancient history, beloved and depicted in art through centuries, and the heroic dogs today serving as guides for their owners with visual impairment or other disabilities.

In each page, no matter what kind of dog it depicts, or what their relationship to human life is, there is a great sense of respect for these creatures. It strikes you, looking at Uribe’s illustrations which focus on both an anatomical accuracy and an inviting softness of colours and beauty, that people have been seeing dogs in this way for as long as they have cared for them.

Anyone in search of the perfect gift for the young dog-lover in their life should look no further.