Dog'S Night [Library Binding]

Meredith Hooper (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up

On their annual Dogs' Night, all the dogs depicted in an art gallery leave their paintings to play, but four of them create a sensation by going back into the wrong paintings. Includes information about the real paintings shown.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 2-These are not ordinary pets but dogs that actually live in paintings in an art museum. Once a year, they secretly celebrate "Dogs' Night" and run wild. This year an evening reception at the museum delays their party but compensates by providing leftover food and bubbly for the canines to enjoy. When the clock strikes midnight, four of the tired, giddy animals mistakenly return to the wrong paintings. Only the dogs know the real story, but they have to wait another year to set things right. Happily, their mischief makes the museum famous. The action is fast moving and children will become quickly involved in the humor of the story and the antics of the pups. The illustrations are as comical and whimsical as the tale itself. An addendum identifies the four featured paintings from the National Gallery in London. After reading this lighthearted fantasy, young readers will never again be intimidated by a visit to the museum.
Patricia Mahoney Brown, Benjamin Franklin Elementary School, Kenmore, NY
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Once a year, the dogs leave their poses in famous paintings in the National Gallery in London and run boisterously around the museum. One night, however, they are confounded by people partying in the galllery. When the people leave, the canines feast on table scraps, become sleepy, and hoist themselves into the wrong paintings. The next day, the mistakes are discovered. Experts are stumped, even more so when, a year later, the dogs climb back into their accustomed places. The illustrations combine situational comedy (the dogs scratching, chasing, and skidding down corridors, and humans grotesquely nibbling canapes) with humorous contrasts of the dogs' frantic play in front of still lifes and staid portraits. A section about the paintings at the book's end details the four paintings in which the dogs appeared--among them van Eyck's The Arnolfini Marriage and Seurat's Bathers at Asnieres. This uproarious romp should surprise and delight children with its insight into the role dogs play in art, and will provide an incentive for a visit to a museum. Connie Fletcher

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Library Binding: 32 pages
• Publisher: Millbrook Press (April 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761318240
• ISBN-13: 978-0761318248
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.7 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,324,254 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dogs and More Dogs!, December 6, 2000

By 

Vickie Bowman (GORDONVALE, QUEENSLAND Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dog'S Night (Library Binding)

With 7 grandchildren, I'm always on the look out for suitable reading matter for them. Today I found a really nice book for the age group 5 to 9yrs. Dogs' Night by Meredith Hooper, fits all the requirements.

The story is set in an art museum : One night of the year, all the dogs in the paintings, jump down and have a high old time, running riot in the museum, when the staff and the public have left. This time things were just a little different! The museum hosted an art lovers function and the dogs had to wait until it was over, before they could escape their paintings and have a good time doing the things dogs do. The humans hadn't cleared away the left overs, so the dogs ate, and drank *fizzy drinks*. When it was time for them to go back into their pictures, 4 of them ended up in the wrong ones! The dog from Jan van Eyck's Painting *The Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his Wife, Giovnna Cenami* a cute hairy little beast, ends up in Gainsborough's *Mr & Mrs.Andrews. Their dog, a brown hunting dog with a white muzzle, goes to visit *Madame de Pompadour* by Francois-Hubert Drouais. Her cute little black dog with a wavy tail, finds itself down by the river in *Bathers at Asnieres* by Georges-Pierre Seurat! So...that leaves the red dog with the floppy ears from the Bathers, in the bedroom of the Arnolfini family!

Their mistake is discovered first by a little girl and then by the public. At first the Gallery staff think there is a theft, but realize that the paintings are the originals, with some very odd changes made. The media and the general public flock to the Gallery and it becomes the most popular one in the world.

A year later...it's Dogs' Night again. All the dogs in the Gallery paintings leave their pictures and run around madly doing dog things, but this time there is no *fizzy drink* to muddle them up. When it's time to climb back into the pictures, they all manage to end up in their original paintings. No one knows how it's happened...except the Dogs!

I thoroughly recommend this little book. The story is clever and well told in easy language. The illustrations are enchanting.Reproductions of the original art work have been used with permission from the National Gallery in London. It's a nice way to get kids interested in Art, even if it is looking to find the *dog* in the picture.

I'd give it a 5! Oh...and my *soon to be 5* granddaughter will have it under the tree waiting for her Christmas morning!

Vickie Bowman..Callahan's Saloon at Delphi.com.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Story Line that Isn't the Same Old Thing, February 1, 2004

By 

Claire Wadlington "avid reader & startup inve... (Newton, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dog'S Night (Library Binding)

The dogs come out of the paintings in the museum one night a year for a party. One year the remnants of a human cocktail party lead them to eat too much food and wine, and when it is time to crawl back into their paintings for another year there is a grand mixup. The paintings are real ones from the National Gallery in London. Great book. We loved it!

5.0 out of 5 stars Dogs' Night Book, January 8, 2012

By 

June B. Croissant "read-2-many" (Northern New England, USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dogs' Night (Paperback)

This is definitely a book to be enjoyed by adults as well as children. The older the better! Give it a try!