God Got a Dog

by Cynthia Rylant, Marla Frazee (Illustrator)

Overview

Newbery Medalist Cynthia Rylant and two-time Caldecott Honoree Marla Frazee imagine a God living among us in this spirited and moving collection of illustrated poems.

What if God was living a human existence? What might God do to pass the time? Write a fan letter? Get a desk job? Make spaghetti? Take a bath? Get a dog?

A sublime book for all ages, God Got a Dog celebrates the simple things in our world while taking a long, close look at what it means to be human. The soft, reflective, and often humorous words and pictures create a glimpse into everyday life through wide and wondering eyes that blends the familiar with the profoundly spiritual.

These poems were originally published by HarperCollins without illustrations as part of a larger collection entitled God Went to Beauty School ©2003.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442465190
Publisher:	Beach Lane Books
Publication date:	10/29/2013
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	1,282,259
Lexile:	NP (what's this?)
File size:	19 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	10 - 17 Years

About the Author

Cynthia Rylant is the author of more than 100 books for young people, including the beloved Henry and Mudge, Annie and Snowball, Brownie & Pearl, and Mr. Putter & Tabby series. Her novel Missing May received the Newbery Medal. She lives in Lake Oswego, Oregon. Visit her at CynthiaRylant.com.
Marla Frazee was awarded a Caldecott Honor for All the World and A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever, and the Boston Globe Horn Book Award for Picture Book for her wordless book The Farmer and the Clown. She is the author-illustrator of many books, including The Boss Baby, the book that inspired the DreamWorks Animation film Boss Baby. She has illustrated many acclaimed picture books, including God Got a Dog by Cynthia Rylant; Stars by Mary Lyn Ray; and Everywhere Babies by Susan Meyers. She is also the illustrator of the New York Times bestselling Clementine chapter book series by Sara Pennypacker. The mother of three grown sons, she lives in Pasadena, California. Visit her at MarlaFrazee.com.

Editorial Reviews

What would it be like if God came to visit the earth to be part it? What would God think about certain things? Where would God go and what places would He visit? Would God join some friends and go do something fun? Would God act more like us and do some things that humans do? This poetry book has an unusual way of allowing the reader to have some possible insight into what it might be like if God were to visit here. The book is full of unique poems about what God would possibly do such as: God went to beauty school, God went to the doctor, God went skating, God got a desk job, God wrote a fan letter, God went to India, and God got a dog. The authors use humor along with real characteristics of God to make the poetry real and interesting. For example, one poem talks about how God goes to the doctor and jokes with the doctor for being good at playing Him. God wants the doctor to check Him so he does. The doctor tells God He has a little skip in His heart. The skip is not from anything He has done, but from something way back. It was from the fact that some people do not believe in Him and it scares Him. Little tidbits like this example make the book a fascinating look at how one might see what God would do if He were to be here and act like us. Readers will enjoy the authors’ humor while reading this book. Reviewer: Cathi I. White; Ages 10 up.

Children's Literature - Cathi I. White

Sixteen poems from Rylant’s God Went to Beauty School (2003) return in a new collection, accompanied by new artwork from Frazee, whose graphite-and-gouache illustrations are ideally attuned to the poems’ moments of irreverent humor and poignant reflection. In several images, Frazee portrays God as a child, such as the girl with spiky braids and yellow life vest riding in a swan boat in “God got a boat,” or the boy sprawled out on a sofa in “God caught a cold,” tissues littering the floor (“It’s hard to/ thunder/ ‘Thou shalt not!’/ when it comes out/ ‘Thou shalt dot!’ ”). Rylant and Frazee’s visions of God as a trucker delivering a fan letter to a country music singer, an ostensibly homeless woman walking through a gorgeous gothic church, and a dadlike fellow in plaid pajamas and slippers sipping coffee under an apple tree combine to form a celebration of God’s humanity and mankind’s divinity. Ages 10–up. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

* “Several of the poems from Rylant’s wry meditation God Went to Beauty School (2003) are regathered, rearranged and luminously illustrated by Frazee…. Frazee’s illustrations take the idea of the multiplicity of God in all of us and run with it…. Divinity is indicated with a faint halo, but Frazee never sacrifices the ineffable humanity of each depiction; her Gods are fat, skinny, joyful, contemplative, worn-out…. Funny, devout and oh, so human; this collection hits home.

From the Publisher

* "Oh, God. As this book so intriguingly suggests, You do come in many shapes and sizes. Colors, too. But more than what the deity looks like, this slim volume of 15 poems focuses on what God does.... The messages aren’t always immediately clear, but that’s what makes this so much fun. Seeing God in new ways allows children to think about their relationship to Him or Her differently. In this interpretation, God and humans are co-creators of an evolving world. Though the poetry has been published before in a collection, the artwork is all new. Frazee’s pictures, each facing a page of text, are a powerful contrast of light and darkness, restlessness and contentment. God didn’t think she had time for a dog. But she got one anyway."

Booklist

By imagining God's experiences with such earthly undertakings as making spaghetti, catching a cold, working a desk job, writing a fan letter, and yes, adopting a stray dog, Cynthia Rylant and Marla Frazee have created a lovely and accessible collection of illustrated free-verse poems exploring God's love and humanity. The simple and quietly moving hand-lettered poems appeal to the mind as well as the senses, and are selected from Newbery Medalist Rylant's original, non-illustrated collection, God Went To Beauty School (HarperCollins, 2003/Voya August 2003). The presentation of the poems has been rearranged and they are accompanied by soft graphite pencil and gouache illustrations by two-time Caldecott Honoree Frazee, which creates a beautiful new volume of poetry. God is depicted in a variety of human forms in the poems and illustrations, including male and female, young and old, different sizes and ethnicities, always surrounded by a halo of holy light. While some may consider the poems irreverent and controversial because of God's human forms and the rather mundane activities in which a deity is described, it is a beautiful collection which celebrates life and approaches the idea of God with sincerity and respect. While it may not be an appropriate addition for some school and community libraries, it is very highly recommended, and should be purchased even if Rylant's original work is already a part of the library's collection. This is recommended for all ages, ten and up. Reviewer: Elaine Gass Hirsch

VOYA - Elaine Gass Hirsch

★ 10/01/2013
Gr 5 Up—An award-winning author and illustrator team up to create a lyrical celebration of where the divine meets the mundane, and ultimately what it means to be human. In this small book of poetry, God decides to "try out" different activities and experiences of humanity, and the results are by turns thought-provoking and inspiring. Each of the 15 poems is coupled with a quietly incandescent illustration that supports the text but doesn't overwhelm it or diminish its impact. Taken from the author's longer collection God Went to Beauty School (HarperCollins, 2003), this slimmed down, repackaged version brilliantly captures its sweetness and substance but provides a simpler progression and arc. Selections alternate pronouns for the deity, with God referred to as He or She in each poem. In "God Got Arrested," his anger "erupted like/the wrath of…/Oh, right./Never mind." While this title might be controversial and potentially inappropriate for some religious institutions, it will appeal to a wide audience of both children and adults. This is one book that's easy to pick up, but hard to put down again.—Stephanie Whelan, New York Public Library

School Library Journal

★ 2013-09-01
Several of the poems from Rylant's wry meditation God Went to Beauty School (2003) are regathered, rearranged and luminously illustrated by Frazee. Notably absent is the poem "God Is a Girl," as Rylant has expanded that notion by occasionally regendering the deity so He becomes She in roughly half the poems. In the titular poem, readers learn that "She never meant to. / … / She was always working / and dogs needed so / much attention. / God didn't know if She / could take being needed / by one more thing." Frazee's illustrations take the idea of the multiplicity of God in all of us and run with it, depicting Him or Her as a black, tattooed nail artist; a middle-aged white woman eating by herself; a little dark-skinned boy on roller skates (with hair sticking straight! up!); a bearded, dark-skinned dude playing poker with Gabriel; a homeless black woman. An illustration appears opposite each poem, allowing readers to stop and ponder each of God's earthly aspects. Divinity is indicated with a faint halo, but Frazee never sacrifices the ineffable humanity of each depiction; her Gods are fat, skinny, joyful, contemplative, worn-out. Readers will be glad and relieved when they turn the final page to learn that, having adopted Ernie the dog, God now "has somebody / keeping Her feet warm at night." Funny, devout and oh, so human; this collection hits home. (Poetry. 10 & up)

Kirkus Reviews