I review and read a lot of children's books; I like them. I am also a dog lover and have literally had one all of my rather lengthy life (I am currently owned by four of them). I love good writing; witty writing, and have been a fan of illustrative art for more years than I care to tell you. You can imagine my absolute delight when I received one small book that covered each and every one of these important aspects of my life.
This is an alphabet book, and even though library shelves across the world groan with such work, there is always room for yet another, especially if it is new, innovative and a joy for children to read and learn from. Having spent quite some time in the class room with younger children, I can assure you that the one universal topic that can always led to endless discussion, and can always keep and hold their attention is pets...really any pet, but dogs always top this list with any group of students.
The author has used the name of the pet, dogs in this case, to introduce each letter of the alphabet. `W' is for Wishbone, `P' is for Pharoah, `J' is for Jasmine, `G' is for Genghis and so on. Each letter and name is introduced in a simple sentence such as, "C is for Cujo chewing the fat." Now to appreciate this you must view the pictures which accompany each sentence. In this case we have the kitchen floor, and on this floor we have a very large dog food bowl with a gigantic bone in it and on top of it all, a very small, and I might add adorable puppy, about half the size of the bone doing his best to demolish it.
Most of these sentences and illustrations, when taken together as a whole, are quite amusing and even funny. The author has let the dogs be what they are, intelligent, mischievous, and curious creatures full of love. One of my favorites here is "R is for Riley realizing the wurst," and we see the picture of a typical Irish Setter running down the city street with wurst links in his mouth!
Now for the art work; my goodness. Wrolf Bronesby is something of a new comer to the field; at least I was unfamiliar with his work, but folks I can assure you that you are going to hear a lot from and about this talented man in the future. Each frame of work, each individual picture is near perfection. The artist uses darkish mellow colors which sort of glow. While each painting is precise, there is no unneeded clutter scattered throughout the painting which cause the primary subject, in this case various dogs, to snap and standout from the background as they should.
The author has a way of playing with words in an understated manner and the child is introduced to new vocabulary words with almost each offering. There is a rhythm here and if the reader takes close note they will find that each proper noun is immediately followed by a verb beginning with the same letter...example: "S is for Simon sailing the lake." Word patterns are important and the little ones learn this through osmoses, if nothing else.
A perfect (or should I say `purrrrfect") companion for this work is A Nuisance of Cats - The Curious Collective by the same team; writer and artist.
The quality of these books, hard cover, is excellent. I suspect that we will not only hear much more from this author and artist, but also this publishing company, Little Known School Press.
Overall, thanks guys for offering us up some pure delight!
Also by the same author: Little Known School of Thought - The Fine Art of Jewish Suffering Without Guilt
Don Blankenship
The Ozarks
This is an alphabet book, and even though library shelves across the world groan with such work, there is always room for yet another, especially if it is new, innovative and a joy for children to read and learn from. Having spent quite some time in the class room with younger children, I can assure you that the one universal topic that can always led to endless discussion, and can always keep and hold their attention is pets...really any pet, but dogs always top this list with any group of students.
The author has used the name of the pet, dogs in this case, to introduce each letter of the alphabet. `W' is for Wishbone, `P' is for Pharoah, `J' is for Jasmine, `G' is for Genghis and so on. Each letter and name is introduced in a simple sentence such as, "C is for Cujo chewing the fat." Now to appreciate this you must view the pictures which accompany each sentence. In this case we have the kitchen floor, and on this floor we have a very large dog food bowl with a gigantic bone in it and on top of it all, a very small, and I might add adorable puppy, about half the size of the bone doing his best to demolish it.
Most of these sentences and illustrations, when taken together as a whole, are quite amusing and even funny. The author has let the dogs be what they are, intelligent, mischievous, and curious creatures full of love. One of my favorites here is "R is for Riley realizing the wurst," and we see the picture of a typical Irish Setter running down the city street with wurst links in his mouth!
Now for the art work; my goodness. Wrolf Bronesby is something of a new comer to the field; at least I was unfamiliar with his work, but folks I can assure you that you are going to hear a lot from and about this talented man in the future. Each frame of work, each individual picture is near perfection. The artist uses darkish mellow colors which sort of glow. While each painting is precise, there is no unneeded clutter scattered throughout the painting which cause the primary subject, in this case various dogs, to snap and standout from the background as they should.
The author has a way of playing with words in an understated manner and the child is introduced to new vocabulary words with almost each offering. There is a rhythm here and if the reader takes close note they will find that each proper noun is immediately followed by a verb beginning with the same letter...example: "S is for Simon sailing the lake." Word patterns are important and the little ones learn this through osmoses, if nothing else.
A perfect (or should I say `purrrrfect") companion for this work is A Nuisance of Cats - The Curious Collective by the same team; writer and artist.
The quality of these books, hard cover, is excellent. I suspect that we will not only hear much more from this author and artist, but also this publishing company, Little Known School Press.
Overall, thanks guys for offering us up some pure delight!
Also by the same author: Little Known School of Thought - The Fine Art of Jewish Suffering Without Guilt
Don Blankenship
The Ozarks
- Accelerated Reading level : not known
- Hardcover: 64 pages
- Publisher: Little Known School Press (May 3, 2010)
- ISBN-10: 0982515022
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