Big Dog and Little Dog can't stay out of mischief for long - especially when no one is watching. It's wintertime, and Little Dog is snug in his red doggy sweater. Big Dog wants a sweater, too. Where will they find one? In a dresser drawer, of course! The two lovable canines find more adventure in this newest addition to the heartwarming board book series.
Dav Pilkey created the Caldecott Honor book The Paperboy and the outrageous Dumb Bunnies series. His books Kat Kong and Dogzilla (both Harcourt Brace, 1993) were named ALA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Readers. Mr. Pilkey lives with his pets in Eugene, Oregon.
Children's Literature - Laura Dekle
The story, a day in the life of two dogs, in this early reader by Dav Pilkey, along with the extra material included at the back, will be a help and an encouragement to young readers. For a new or emerging reader, the most helpful and least exasperating books are those that are repetitive but not monotonous, logical but not boring, and descriptive but not superfluous. This simple book does well balancing those aspects of learning to read: it engages the reader using relatable content, the vocabulary is realistic for the intended audience and challenges them while not stretching them too much, and the illustrations support and supplement the text well. The last page of the story includes onomatopoeia. While it is not necessary for readers of this book to be expected to know or to learn onomatopoeias at this point in their reading timeline, it is not harmful for them to be sprinkled into texts like this one organically, to familiarize students with parts of speech, so that when the time comes for students to learn about and incorporate their use, it can be done seamlessly. After the story, there are several pages of supplemental material including a section called “Picture It,” which asks students to match up sentences to illustrations. Also included are some facts about dogs in our culture, “Story Sequencing,” which uses only illustrations to create the timeline of the events from the story that was just read, and “Dog-Libs,” a Mad-Libs type game that has students recall and incorporate nouns and verbs into a story about dogs. Reviewer: Laura Dekle; Ages 4 to 6.
School Library Journal
06/01/2015
PreS-Gr 1—This day in the life of two dogs is a perfect choice for children just starting to read. A simple declarative sentence appears on each page and is matched to the boldly-outlined cartoon illustrations. In addition to the story, there are three bonus activities: sequencing, matching, and "Dog-Libs." VERDICT A great addition to any early reader collection.—Patrick Tierney, Dr. Martin Luther King Elementary School RI
Children's Literature - Marilyn Courtot
Little Dog is warm and cozy in his bright red sweater. Big Dog wants one too. After riffling through a drawer of clothes, they finally find one and Big Dog strolls happily to the hearth where he and Little Dog cuddle up for a snooze. Appealing illustrations in an easily understood story will charm young kids. Other board book stories in the series are Big Dog and Little Dog, Big Dog and Little Going for a Walk, and Big Dog and Little Dog Getting in Trouble.
Children's Literature - Meredith Kiger
One in a series of first books for toddlers, Big Dog and Little Dog are friends who do everything together. This small, simply illustrated and written book features a heavy cardboard format, few pages, basic story, and minimal cartoon-like illustrations. The plastic-coated pages make the book perfect for the sticky fingers crowd to drag around. Also in the series, Big Dog and Little Dog Getting in Trouble.
Read More
