The Day My Dogs Became Guys [Hardcover]

Merrill Markoe (Author), Eric Brace (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1999 | Age Level: 3 and up

Carey has three ordinary, lovable dogs. Until one day, during a solar eclipse, he finds three pretty strange people who "used" to be his pets. How is Carey going to control his "people?" And what will happen when his mother gets home? Full color.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Markoe, an Emmy Award winner for her writing on Late Night with David Letterman, makes a very droll children's book debut. Carey, the protagonist, has three loyal but aggravating canines who drool at mealtimes and bark uselessly at squirrels. "I wish they were people, so we could make them understand things once and for all," Carey tells his mother. That afternoon, a solar eclipse darkens the town, and Carey finds three unusual humans in place of his dogs?a transition that Brace (The Krazees) handily delivers with silhouettes that serve both their animal and human incarnations. Instead of the shaggy yellow mutt, Butch, there's a sloppy teenager; instead of the fat Dalmatian, Dee Dee, there's a plump, hyperactive lady in a spotted dress; and instead of the Scottish terrier, Ed, there's a balding older gentleman with a brushy black mustache and a plaid suit. After an affectionate hello, the three race for the kitchen. As Dee Dee raids the refrigerator, Ed leans out the window, yelling, "Squirrels!... Scum! Creeps! Get out of that tree now," and a muddy Butch chases a car ("It's getting away!") with Carey in hot pursuit. Markoe hilariously imagines the chaos that could arise from canine brains in human bodies. The dogs are earnest and sweet?Butch cowers at the words, "Bad boy!"?but they're also easily distracted and desperate for a snack. In his artwork, Brace uses curving shapes and extreme angles to suggest antic motion, and conveys the characters' goofiness with froggy, wide-set eyes, sprawling bodies and lolling tongues. His scenes of the trio wreaking havoc on a quiet suburban street will have children of all ages rolling on the floor. Ages 3-8.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-4-Carey's three dogs are pretty ordinary: Butch chases squirrels and cars, Dee Dee will eat anything and everything she can reach, and old Ed loves taking naps. One day, during a solar eclipse, Carey returns from school to find his dogs changed into very strange people who can talk, but who still retain their canine habits and behaviors. Now, Butch can verbally carry on his anti-squirrel crusade so loudly that he annoys the neighbors, Dee Dee can open the refrigerator and help herself, and Ed-well, Ed can take a nap. Mercifully, by the time the eclipse is over, the three "terrible people" turn back into three "pretty good dogs" and Carey doesn't have to worry about his mother's reaction to them. This amusing story has gray-toned, stylized illustrations, with cylindrical forms and Drescher-like figures whose tiny boneless limbs extrude like plastic pasta from mechanical-looking bodies, and with dogs' torpedo-shaped muzzles ending in dark-green, metallic noses. The overall effect is more grotesque than comedic. Still, readers who enjoy quirky humor will appreciate it, as will dog owners who may have occasionally wondered what their pets would be like if they were to turn human.
Marian Drabkin, Richmond Public Library, CA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 3 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Viking Juvenile; First Edition edition (February 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670853445
• ISBN-13: 978-0670853441
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 9.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,131,049 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Merrill Markoe graduated from UC Berkeley with a masters degree in art, then went on to use her degree in the most pragmatic way possible by becoming a writer of comedy for assorted venues, including television, movies and magazines,(when there still were magazines.) Along the way she won five Emmys for Late Night with David Letterman and a Writer's Guild Award for HBO's Not Necessarily the News.These days she is STILL writing books and making short films. To learn more than you probably need to know about her, visit Merrillmarkoe.com. And when I say "her", I mean "me." As far as I can tell, I'm the only one writing this.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dogs are Really Humans in Disguise, Right?, April 9, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Day My Dogs Became Guys (Hardcover)

What if your dogs became human? What kind of people would they be? THe premise keeps kids intrigued, the bad behavior of the dogs-turned-people make them almost as bad as Rotten Ralph (Jack Gantos) and their retransfiguration is just as wonderful as the mayhem they cause.

5.0 out of 5 stars Dogs Into Humans? Oh MY!, May 7, 2010

By 

DelGal's Book Reviews (Delaware, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Day My Dogs Became Guys (Picture Puffins) (Paperback)

Who out there that has animals (specifically dogs) hasn't had the thought about what it would be like if our animals could talk, or were humans? This super cute, humorous, and nicely illustrated book explores exactly what would happen if dogs became humans, and it may not exactly be a positive thing, as you will see if you read this book.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DOg Days, December 4, 2001

By 

Taryn (Clemson University) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Day My Dogs Became Guys (Picture Puffins) (Paperback)

" I wish they were people, so we could make them understand things once and for all". In The Day My Dogs Became Guys, a trio of dogs morphs into people. Their lolling tongues and drooping eyes might look the same as when they were dogs, but their capacities to destroy become even greater as they become human. Brace attempts to illustrate the chaos that Dee Dee, Butch, and Ed cause through exaggeration. Particularly exaggerated is the size of the characters that indicates the main action and accurately personifies the pets. In this picture book, the famous last words of Carey, the protagonist are that he wishes his dogs could become people.
On the title page, the readers' eyes are directed in three different directions. Each of the dogs attempts to evade Carey, making the animals seem as if they are jumping off the page. Situated in the middle Carey seems small and out of control compared to the dogs. His facial expression indicates surprise and exasperation, further indicating to the reader that Carey has now become the owned instead of the owner. Further contributing to Carey's predicament, on the first page of the story, the three dogs lie on top of Carey and smother him. The exaggeration of the dogs' sizes and the text saying that Carey is "buried alive" by the dogs allows readers to see Carey's power being usurped. At the breakfast table that morning, the three dogs drool ferociously as Carey eats and Carey's mother cautiously looks on. In Carey's mouth, a huge lump of food tantalizes the begging dogs. The amount of drool coming out of their mouths shows the reader how demanding the dogs are characterizing the voracious appetites of the three.
Brace also exaggerates the size of pictures on the page to foreshadow important events. While at school, Carey learns about the eclipse coming later that day. The diagram of the eclipse is enormous and immediately catches the eye of the reader foreshadowing the events to follow. When the eclipse occurs the shadows of the three dogs appear on the ground in front of Carey. In addition, the shadows of the three dogs are huge and menacing. At this point, it looks like a catastrophe may be about to happen.
The narration on the pages reveals that Carey's dogs have morphed into humans. These "humans" have personalities comparable to the qualities they have exhibited as dogs. In the first illustration of the dogs-turned-humans, the neo-humans are towering over Carey, dragging him to the door obviously trying to get him outside into a world of trouble. Dee Dee attempts to confiscate the huge turkey in the refrigerator. The gigantic turkey alludes to the anxious hunger brewing inside of Dee Dee. In fact, as a human Dee Dee's first exclamation is "...I am starving to death" (12). On the consecutive pages, Brace does not choose to exaggerate any particular character or action. Instead the divergent action occurring shows the ensuing chaos. Sometimes Brace uses exaggeration to point out character traits. Throughout the dogs' transformation, Carey's facial expressions are large and embellished. His mouth is usually wide open, and he looks close to tears, making him seem like a worrier. Dee Dee's rear end is so exaggerated that she cannot squeeze under the bed, probably due to her tendency to overeat and contributes to her character flaw of being insatiably hungry.
When Carey's mom comes home a scene of utter destruction confronts the reader. The muddy footprints covering the downstairs lead upstairs. As readers, we have no choice but to clench our teeth and be curious about what is going to happen when Carey's mother finds the human dogs. Proving the readers' anticipation of danger wrong, everything turns out all right in the end. The dogs are back to normal due to the end of the eclipse and the closing scene is a picture of Carey bathing Dee Dee. This time, Carey's size is exaggerated, showing that he is bigger than the dog; he has finally gained control. His face has exhibited a mélange of emotions: surprise, fear, and confusion; and now that the dogs are submissive again elation.
Readers see early in the story that Carey has the ability to be overtaken by his pets, and that fact becomes even more evident through Brace's exaggerated illustrations. The opening scene Carey's dogs are smothering him yet his size is still substantial in comparison to the dogs. Finally, on the last page of The Day My Dogs Became Guys Carey's size in relation to the dogs returns to normal and his face is very contented showing the return to normalcy. This normalcy is something Carey cherishes and his original statement is disregarded when he says at the end of the book: " I am very relieved that you guys are dogs again. Because you are some pretty good dogs. But you are some really terrible people".