Go, Dog. Go! by P.D. Eastman

Bibliography
Eastman, P.D. 1961. Go, Dog. Go! New York, NY: Random House Inc. ISBN 0-394-90020.0


Plot Summary
P.D. Eastman uses colorful dogs of all shapes and sizes to introduce young readers to important concepts, such as colors and opposites. There is also a basic running plot line of a red dog asking a yellow if he likes her hat. The yellow dog tells the red dog no repeatedly, until at the end she appears with a crazy party hat which the yellow dog wholeheartedly approves of. The use of repetitive words, simple sentences, and personified dogs doing human things, like talking, wearing hats, driving and attending parties, make this book a fun read for beginning readers.


Critical Analysis
Go, Dog. Go! is a great read-aloud book, as it presents many opportunities to discuss important, basic concepts like the "d" sound, opposites, and colors. Each page layout juxtaposes illustrations of different  kinds of dogs, such as a big dog on the left page, and a little dog on the right page with a simple sentence under each illustration (ie. Big dog. Little dog.) The use of mostly primary colors in the illustrations provide an intro into conversation about what color each dog is. Eastman also provides a line that children could easily repeat based off of the "Go, Dog. Go!" title. When the dogs are shown working, the children can repeat the line "Work, dogs, work!" and when the dogs play they can repeat "Play, dogs, play!" and so on. With older children, this could be a great introduction of verbs. With so many different facets, Go, Dog. Go! proves to be a good choice for a read-aloud book for young children, and a book that beginning readers would be able to successfully read due to the vocabulary choices, plot and themes. 


Review Excerpt(s)
"The canine cartoons make an elementary text funny and coherent and still one of the best around."--School Library Journal.


Connections
*Have children create their own pictures of dogs doing an activity and have them fill in the blanks of the following sentence based on their picture: "___, dog, ____!"
*Provide supplies to make their own hats, like the red and yellow dog in the book. 
*Other books about opposites:
Rey, H.R. Curious George's Opposites. 0618097716