With a Dog Like That, A Kid Like Me [Hardcover]

Michael J. Rosen (Author), Ted Rand (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2000 | Age Level: 4 and up

When is a dog not just a dog? Is it when he's a growling lion standing guard at the gate? Or a slippery seal slick with soap from his bath? Or maybe it's when he's a crouching crocodile stalking the dinner table crumbs--or a billy goat chewing the mail once again (oh no!) Michael J. Rosen and artist Ted Rand have created a fanciful and affectionate tribute to dogs, kids, and the magical combination they form together.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 2-A young boy imagines that his dog is a pony when he runs around the yard, "a Billy goat when he chews the mail (oh no, not again!)," a lion "when he guards the gate," a mole when he burrows under the couch pillows, etc. The exquisite illustrations are rendered with grease pencil and watercolor. Each spread shows the canine in a pose reminiscent of the featured animal and then changed into that creature. The pictures of the different stages of the pooch's transformation are particularly effective. The child proudly concludes, "And so, with a dog like that, a kid like me-can be anything I truly want to be." This fanciful book will captivate children.
Wendy S. Carroll, Montclair Cooperative School, NJ
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Dial; 1st edition (May 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803720599
• ISBN-13: 978-0803720596
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 8.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,551,218 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Greetings and thanks for welcoming me into your home. Since I write books for both young readers and adults, I've cooked up two long-winded paragraphs.

Kids first: So, I'm the author of some four dozen books for children of all ages. The fall of 2011 brings four new titles: MY DOG! A Kid's Guide to Keeping a Happy & Healthy Dog (the idea go-to dog guide for families); a pop-up book with Robert Sabuda, Chanukah Lights, which just received a starred review in Publisher's Weekly: "A stunning achievement"; The Hound Dog's Haiku and Other Poems for Dog Lovers, illustrated with Mary Azarian's woodcuts; and Night of the Pumpkinheads, illustrated entirely with extraordinary jack-o'-lanterns.
Other favorites are The Cuckoo's Haiku and Other Poems for Birders; Our Farm: Four Seasons with Five Kids on One Family's Farm (which I both wrote and illustrated with some 400 photographs); A Drive in the Country; Don't Shoot!; A School for Pompey Walker, and Elijah's Angel. (And, yes, there's the Britiish Michael--no "J."--Rosen whose many books are often confused with mine.) For over 35 years, ever since working as a counselor, water-safety instructor, and art teacher at local community centers, I've been engaged with young children, their parents and teachers. As a visiting author, in-service speaker, and workshop leader, I frequently travel to schools and conferences around the nation, sharing stories, poems, creativity, and humor.

Several of my books here show my work as editor/anthologist or illustrator. It has been my privilege to have enlisted hundreds of other authors and artists to create 15 philanthropic books that aid in the fight to end childhood hunger through Share Our Strength's national efforts, or that offer care to less fortunate companion animals through The Company of Animals Fund, a granting program I administered for a dozen years.

Now, for adults. I can start by saying I'm a poet. I went to Columbia from 1979-1981, and received my MFA there. Poems are now collected in three volumes, which are all featured here at Amazon. Moving home to Ohio, I worked as an illustrator (while in NYC, I began selling spot illustrations to The New Yorker and Gourmet magazines); one of my first real clients was The Thurber House, the soon-to-be-restored home of Columbus's native son, James Thurber. For almost twenty years, I helped to restore the home, develop the programs there, and edit much of Thurber's uncollected work. (Those volumes are also featured here.) It was there, I began to edit short story anthologies, commission great writers to contribute to books about dogs, horses, and even VW Beetles. That's also where I started Mirth of a Nation, a three-volume humor biennial that constitutes almost 2,000 pages of the best contemporary humor.

Most recently, I've been working in humorous nonfiction. No Dribbling the Squid features profiles of 70-some of the world's most wayward competitions. (You can see the Web site and Facebook pages, as well.) And, most recently, there's Any Body's Guess: Quirky Quizzes About What Makes You Tick.

Otherwise, my Website has a good deal about my life on the 100-acre farm I share in Central Ohio. Thanks again for reading along with me.

www.fidosopher.com

for lots more about MY DOG!, including recipes, training tips, cool projects, games, and so forth: www.workman.com/mydog

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars With a Book Like This, You'll See Your Dog in New Ways!, October 24, 2004

By 

M. Allen Greenbaum (California) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: With a Dog Like That, a Kid Like Me... (School & Library Binding)

It's not necessary to have a retriever type dog to enjoy this book, but it definitely helps. Ted Rand's pictures capture their essence, and our family delighted in the similarities with our Golden Retriever, Sadie the Wonder Dog. Michael J. Rosen's ("We're Going on a Bear Hunt," and numerous other books) narrative is simple but engagingly creative, he compares the (unnamed) boy's Golden to various animals as the dog plays. For example, Rosen writes that the dog is "a Billy goat when he chews the mail," and the two-page illustration shows both the dog and a Billy goat demolishing envelopes. Similarly, the retriever is like "a Hibernating Bear when he naps beside me in bed," and Rand `s grease pencil and watercolor illustration depicts a big brown bear sleeping in a cave beneath the snow. Other apt comparisons include a mole, a beaver, a crocodile, a pony, a seal ("when he's slick with soap from a sudsy shampoo"), a kangaroo, a lion, a cow, and a groundhog! The only animal that I thought should be included was a gazelle, but maybe it's only Sadie who leaps and bounds over vegetation to retrieve a tennis ball. The book concludes with the simple, yet somewhat poignant, "And so, with a dog like that, a kid more me...can be anything I truly want to be." The book's underlying premise is beautifully realized by Rosen and illustrator Rand.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars WITH A DOG LIKE THAT, June 14, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: With a Dog Like That, A Kid Like Me (Hardcover)

A young boy has a wonderful imagination and believes that his dog becomes a pony when he runs around the yard, a kangaroo when he takes out his leash, a lion when he guards the gate, a mole when he burrows under the pillows on the couch, and other zoo animals. The illustrations are made with watercolors and outlined with a grease pencil. They are absolutely exquisite. Each page shows the different stages of the dog changing into the animal. This book will captivate young children and librarians alike. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

5.0 out of 5 stars for dogs with kids, vice versa, May 29, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: With a Dog Like That, A Kid Like Me (Hardcover)

This is a great book for families with dogs. It helps kids stretch their imagination while shedding light on the magical world that children and dogs create between themselves. The illustrations are fantastic. I highly recommend it!