MY DOG LYLE

A little girl with blonde braids is the first-person narrator of this tribute to a pampered pooch named Lyle. The patterned text uses a cumulative structure, adding one new term to the dog’s description and repeating the whole string of adjectives on succeeding pages. This repetitive string of descriptive words rolls along in a fashion that will delight young children (“my snuggly, smart, howling, burping, slurping, stinky-pink dog Lyle”). Each characteristic term is illustrated with an engaging painting of Lyle in action: trying on a ballet tutu, sitting in the driver’s seat of the family car, hiding under the bed during a thunderstorm. The story is based on memories of Goldfinger’s own dog, and her vibrant illustrations create a well-defined personality for Lyle, who has a distinctive black patch across one eye and ear. She does an excellent job of varying her perspectives, showing Lyle running into a sliding door, howling head-on in his tutu and hopping up and down from behind a hedge. In the crowded ring of dog stories, Lyle stands out from the pack. (Picture book. 3-6)