Customer Reviews

With a Dog Like That, A Kid Like Me

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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.

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.

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!