Filled with questions any child might ask, replete with a sense of warmth and good cheer and packing enough offbeat facts to...
Everything you wondered about dogs but were afraid to ask is answered in this slim, friendly volume of canine Q&A.
Questions range from why dogs bark and wag their tails to why there are so many breeds to that perennial question of why they sniff each other’s bottoms. Each spread features a question on canine behavior or attributes, which is followed by whimsical and arch offerings from a chorus of cats (“Why do dogs do what we tell them? Because they don’t know how to use their own heads. Because they can’t open a can of dog food on their own. Because they want people to like them more than people like cats”). Factual, accessible text then provides straightforward answers and a focus on a breed that personifies said characteristic, complete with a textured illustration in rich earthy tones and a description of the breed and its assets as a pet. Endpapers show different breeds as well as imaginary mixed breeds to identify (answers are at the back of the book).
Filled with questions any child might ask, replete with a sense of warmth and good cheer and packing enough offbeat facts to entice even the most reluctant reader, this is bound to be a classroom favorite as well as a great choice for any dog lover. Can a selection on cats be far behind? (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: June 11, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7358-4014-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2011
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again.
Cece loves asking “why” and “what if.”
Her parents encourage her, as does her science teacher, Ms. Curie (a wink to adult readers). When Cece and her best friend, Isaac, pair up for a science project, they choose zoology, brainstorming questions they might research. They decide to investigate whether dogs eat vegetables, using Cece’s schnauzer, Einstein, and the next day they head to Cece’s lab (inside her treehouse). Wearing white lab coats, the two observe their subject and then offer him different kinds of vegetables, alone and with toppings. Cece is discouraged when Einstein won’t eat them. She complains to her parents, “Maybe I’m not a real scientist after all….Our project was boring.” Just then, Einstein sniffs Cece’s dessert, leading her to try a new way to get Einstein to eat vegetables. Cece learns that “real scientists have fun finding answers too.” Harrison’s clean, bright illustrations add expression and personality to the story. Science report inserts are reminiscent of The Magic Schoolbus books, with less detail. Biracial Cece is a brown, freckled girl with curly hair; her father is white, and her mother has brown skin and long, black hair; Isaac and Ms. Curie both have pale skin and dark hair. While the book doesn’t pack a particularly strong emotional or educational punch, this endearing protagonist earns a place on the children’s STEM shelf.
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again. (glossary) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 19, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-249960-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute.
Readers bid farewell to a beloved canine character.
Momo is—or was—an adorable and very photogenic border collie owned by author Knapp. The many readers who loved him in the previous half-dozen books are in for a shock with this one. “Momo had died” is the stark reality—and there are no photographs of him here. Instead, Momo has been replaced by a flat cartoonish pastiche with strange, staring round white eyes, inserted into some of Knapp’s photography (which remains appealing, insofar as it can be discerned under the mixed media). Previous books contained few or no words. Unfortunately, virtuosity behind a lens does not guarantee mastery of verse. The art here is accompanied by words that sometimes rhyme but never find a workable or predictable rhythm (“We’d fetch and we’d catch, / we’d run and we’d jump. Every day we found new / games to play”). It’s a pity, because the subject—a pet’s death—is an important one to address with children. Of course, Momo isn’t gone; he can still be found “everywhere” in memories. But alas, he can be found here only in the crude depictions of the darling dog so well known from the earlier books.
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781683693864
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Quirk Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
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