Books About Dogs

Dog’s Colorful Day by Ema Dodd was a huge hit at our house. My son loved identifying the colors of all the drips of paint, ice cream, and more that Dog gets on him throughout the day. This is a great book not only because it has counting and colors but because of the language it uses while the spots of color are splatting, squashing, and squishing onto his beautiful white fur. My son loved repeating these words with enthusiasm as he noted how poor Dog was getting so messy! It’s a fun book to read and one that I have added to my wish list!

I Got Two Dogs: (Book and CD)by John Lithgow will delight you. The book comes with a CD and I urge you to play it, hearing a book by the author is always amazing, but this song was thoroughly entertaining. As a dog lover who fondly remembers my childhood dog eating all the lasagnas at my first boy-girl dinner party, I can relate to the naughty but lovable dogs. The message is about devotion and unconditional love and you don’t have to be a dog lover to get that.

Otto Goes to Bed by Todd Parr is a really fun and positive book. Otto is a dog who doesn’t want to go to bed, he wants to play, chase his tail, and a bath and brushing teeth don’t help. Instead, he figures out that there is something he likes about bedtime, dreaming! I like that this book addresses that going to bed feels like missing out on things for kids, I know I felt like that for years. Instead of blankly saying “Sleeping is great” or “You have to go to bed” this book finds something positive about going to bed. The illustration of Otto as a superhero dog makes my son howl with laughter every time.

McDuff Moves In by Rosemary Wells will pull at your heartstrings and make your child beg for a dog!  McDuff escapes from a dog catcher’s truck and tried to brave the world alone only to be met with unfriendly animals until he meets Fred and Lucy! They take him in initially just for one night … but who can resist this Westie? My son loves this series of books and I do too. They are calm, sweet and I love the illustrations by Susan Jeffers.