The Horn Book Guide

PRESCHOOL

Swenson, Jamie A.

If You Were a Dog

40 pp. | Farrar | September, 2014 | Trade ISBN 978-0-374-33530-4 $17.99

(2) PS Illustrated by Chris Raschka. "If you were a dog, would you be a speedy-quick, / Lickety-sloppidy, / scavenge-the-garbage, / frisbee-catching, / hot-dog stealing, / pillow-hogging, / best-friend-ever sort of dog?" After dog comes cat, fish, bug, and so on. The playful direct-address text maintains a pattern, but specifics are gleefully unpredictable. In a pleasing twist, the final animals introduced are dinosaurs. Expressive art captures the animals' movements.

Reviewer: Megan Dowd Lambert | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2014