Wednesday, November 9, 2011

WHAT IS YOUR DOG DOING? (Picture Book)

by Marilyn Singer, illustrated by Kathleen Habbley

Atheneum-Simon & Schuster, 2011


A Book Review by

Violet the Telekinetic Puppy


I’m Violet and I’m a dog and the thing that I am doing is telling you about the picture book WHAT IS YOUR DOG DOING? This book does not have a story with a beginning and a middle and an end. It has lots of little stories about what dogs are doing. On one page a dog is doing a thing and on the next page another dog is doing another thing and there are words that that describe what the first dog is doing and those words rhyme with the words that describe what the second dog is doing. And then you turn the page and see more dogs doing more things.


One example is the brown dog who is “dreaming” about a cupcake with pink frosting and in his dream the brown dog is eating the cupcake and he has pink frosting on his muzzle and on the next page is a matching story about a black and white dog who is “scheming” about how to get the cupcakes with pink frosting from a tray high up on a kitchen table. If the black and white dog were telekinetic like me he could just think about the cupcakes coming to him and they would but he is not telekinetic like me so he has to get the cupcakes another way and that way is to pull on the flowery tablecloth to make the cupcakes with pink frosting slide off the table. That dog is clever and soon he will have pink frosting on his muzzle like the brown dog does.


Some of the the dogs are doing things outside and some the dogs are doing things inside but all of the dogs are doing fun things. Even when they are doing naughty things they are having fun because the thing that dogs do best is have fun.


The pictures are bright and colorful and have lots of details that are fun to look at. One of my favorite pictures is the dog who is hiding behind a curtain but he is not a very good hider because his nose and his wagging tail are sticking out. My other favorite picture is actually two pictures because it is a big picture that takes up two pages and it is the waiting room at a veterinarian’s office. You might think I wouldn’t like to see a veterinarian’s office and usually I wouldn’t because I don’t like to get shots or to have my ears pulled but I like the waiting room at the veterinarian’s office in this book because there are lots of funny details in the drawings like the magazine that has articles for dogs about how to beg and there is also a picture of a Saint Bernard sitting on his person’s lap only you can hardly see the person because the Saint Bernard is so big and that is funny.


The thing that I was doing was telling you about this book but now I am doing something else and the thing that I am doing now is wondering what the author and illustrator of this book are doing and I hope the thing that they are doing is making more books.


The thing that you should be doing right now is reading this book.


Here is a list of who will like this book:


Readers who like cupcakes with pink frosting.


Readers who like dogs.


You.


The thing that I am doing now is saying “good-bye.” Good-bye.


8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hope there is a photo of a dog howling everytime the firetrucks down the street leave on a mission!

Unknown said...

Very cute post!

I'm a dog lover and cupcake eater so I'm definitely finding and reading this book. :)

Violet the Telekinetic Puppy said...

I am sorry Anne but none of the dogs in this book are howling at firetrucks going down the street even though that is a fun thing for dogs to do. I also like to howl at squirrels up in trees and harmonicas and rabbits down in holes and people who are wearing hats. Good-bye.

Hi Jennifer, Thank you for liking my post. You will like this book when you read it. If you check it out from the library be careful not to get pink cupcake frosting on the pages because librarians get mad when books come back with sticky pages. But if you accidentally make the pages sticky you can ask your dog to lick the pages clean because dogs like to help clean up pink cupcake frosting messes. Good-bye.

C.R. Evers said...

LOL! adorable. It makes me want to read the book. :0)

Mirka Breen said...

Happily I like dogs and I am me, so I meet two of the three criteria for liking this book. I like your post also.

Violet the Telekinetic Puppy said...

Hi C.R. I like the little face you made at the end of your comment and I think it would look like me if you could add floppy ears. Good-bye.

Hi Mirka, I like you for liking dogs and also because you are nice and because you are you. Don’t you like cupcakes with pink frosting because I bet they are good but I don’t really know because I have not ever had a cupcake with pink frosting. It might be fun to dream about cupcakes with pink frosting like the brown dog in this book does but I think it would be more fun to pull cupcakes with pink frosting off the kitchen table like the black and white dog does. If you have not had a cupcake with pink frosting because you can’t reach them on the kitchen table I can use my telekinetic powers to help you get one. Good-bye.

Catherine said...

Sounds like a great book. I'm putting it on my TBR list. And my dog right now is pacing downstairs, waiting for this morning walk. Better get going!

Violet the Telekinetic Puppy said...

Hi Catherine, It is good that you are going to read this book and I think you should also read this book to your dog. Good-bye.