DOG’S ABC

This color-shot ABC stars a rambunctious dog that resembles a meatloaf, though he is infinitely more appealing. Dodd’s pooch from Dog’s Colorful Day (2001) is back, this time on a romp through the alphabet. She frames this excursion through the letters as a story, with Dog noodling from one minor adventure to another. An apple falls out of a tree and bonks Dog on the head. At the same time a bird flies out of the tree and a cat stalks after it. Dog chases away the cat and the bird returns to her eggs, and so on. The story is written in bold black letters, with one specific word spelled out on the bottom of the page next to the upper and lower case of each letter. The narrative often has more than one word starting with the letter under scrutiny, so young listeners can identify appropriate words other than just the one that is singled out. Great fields of color and energetic scenes keep eyes highly entertained as the lesson goes down. Just before he goes to sleep, Dog thinks of all the things he’s learned and they are spread across two pages along with their letters. Finally, curled up in his basket, his zzzzz’s finish his day. In Dog, children will find a kindred soul, one who gets hungry and tired and stung by a bee but mostly keeps an eye skinned for fun. (Picture book. 2-5)