Babu the Three-Legged Dog

Babu the Three-Legged Dog

Lisa Howell

Pierre Elliott Trudeau Elementary School

Students in Ms. Howell’s class collaborated with a local author to publish a book about a dog named "Babu", who lost a front leg in a car accident. The vision for the project was to write stories about Babu's courage, perseverance and ability to live a completely normal, satisfying life with one less leg. The aim of the project was to connect students to the illustration and publishing process, work with an author from the community and to distribute the book to local schools and community organizations to promote awareness of the "normalcy" of life with a disability.

The students took a trip to visit the farm that the story is set on; students were able to meet the characters in the book, take in the setting and take photographs and begin sketches. The students continued to work on a number of drafts, develop the illustrations, record songs and finally publishing and distributing the book. The project was embedded into English, Ethics and Religious Culture and Arts Education

Students became a part of the book production process, which was a huge success. The classroom looked like an illustration studio, with drafts and text and photos everywhere.

Ms. Howell reflected that “Community Based Service Learning is the way to engage all students. I learned that CBSL projects make the curriculum come alive. When the Quebec Education Program (QEP) talks of kids "identifying" as authors, this project did more than that: they were part of the entire process of book creation”.

You can visit the Babu website here

You can access blurb, the site used to publish the book here


I highly recommend visiting Lisa Howell's class website here

Read more about the process of making of the book here