Good Dog

January 24, 2005
Every dog has his day—and his own spread—in this spunky collection of poems from a dog's eye–view, created by the team behind Last Night I Dreamed a Circus
. These pooches have personality plus, from the chow who's eager to get outdoors ("Listen Up! It's time to go./ Get the leash. Let's hit the road") to a recently groomed Pomeranian upset about his appearance ("Look at me!/ Hair! Hair! Hair! I can barely see!/ Now I'm as round as a powder puff./ This is just embarrassing"). Alongside their individual poems, each of the 15 purebreds featured here (plus a mutt) appears in a full-color, full-page portrait on black background, opposite several spot sketches in black and white. The design helps give readers a more rounded understanding of what the dogs are really like. Gottfried's brief verses brim with a warm humor that pet owners will readily appreciate (e.g., a maltese with flowing white fur and a flower over its brow inspires a riff on marital vows: "Do you take this dog to be your friend?/ Do you promise to... be faithful to her, and her alone?"). Young readers will also have a chuckle imagining dogs expressing various sentiments. For his inviting artwork, Zakanitch takes inspiration from his previous "Aggressive Goodness Series" of large-scale canine paintings, and Gottfried also used the artwork as her inspiration for the verse. They do these dogs proud. Ages 4-8.