Dig, Dogs, Dig (2013) - James Horvath

Dig, Dogs, Dig (2013) - James Horvath

Dogs and construction: what's not to like? These working dogs, along with their trucks, machines, and digging tools are lot of fun. The rhymes are generally good. The book suffers, however, from two problems: the story goes a little too long and there's just too much activity on several of the pages. This would be a better book for smaller groups (better still for one-on-one situations) than large ones.

Storytelling  4
Color Attractiveness  5
Size of Book  4
Text Size  3
Illustrations 4
Participation Potential  3
Overall Appropriateness for Storytime 4

Oh No, George! (2012) - Chris Haughton

Poor George... He tries so hard to do the right thing. This is a good book for kids, because it's sometimes hard for them to do the right thing, too.

Oh No, George! has a lot of purple and orange colors with some blues and greens thrown in here and there. It's a very attractive book with funky fonts, but a good story. The book is quirky enough to work for some kids, but others used to clear, bold lines may not fully appreciate the artwork. Some of the illustrations are small, but most are full-page-sized. So there are some slightly negative points, but the book's selling point is its charm.

Crowd participation (with a little instruction) is possible and recommended. A fun time!

Storytelling  4

Color Attractiveness  4
Book Size 4
Text Size  3
Illustrations  4
Participation Potential  4 
Overall Appropriateness for Storytime 4

A Ball for Daisy (2011) - Chris Raschka

Chris Raschka's A Ball for Daisy is a wonderful, wordless picture book that's absolutely adorable. (I am, if nothing else, a sucker for dog books.) Parts of the book "read" like a graphic novel with several "panels" on some pages, which might require the "reader" to point a lot and ask "What's happening here?" Other pages are self-contained with a few more in the style of splash pages (in this case, one picture taking up two pages). The book could work with a small group, but is probably best suited to a one-on-one situation. 

Storytelling  4

Color Attractiveness  4
Book Size 3
Text Size  (No Text)
Illustrations  3
Participation Potential  2 
Overall Appropriateness for Storytime 3  

Say Hello to Zorro! (2011) - Carter Goodrich

Say Hello to Zorro! has a lot going for it. Not only is it a great dog story, it also says a lot about how siblings can behave towards each other. When a new dog comes into the family, there's always potential for shenanigans and there certainly are many here. This book would work well for smaller storytime groups, since the text and pictures are a bit on the small side. Of course, for a one-on-one book, it should be a big hit. Goodrich's artwork is excellent, especially the facial expressions of the dogs. (You just have to be pretty close to see them.)

Storytelling  4
Color Attractiveness  3
Size of Book  3
Text Size  3
Illustrations  5
Participation Potential  3 
Overall Appropriateness for Storytime 3.5

See Me Run (2011) - Paul Meisel

See Me Run is a cute, fun dog book, but it's really more of an easy reader than a picture book: lots of simple sentences, few words on a page, and word repetition. It's certainly fun watching dogs be dogs and Meisel's drawings are cute and playful. The ending, however, has the potential to scar dog-loving kids for life. Nothing in the story prepares kids for the final three pages. Not good for storytime.

Storytelling  1
Color Attractiveness  2
Size of Book  2
Text Size  2
Illustrations  2
Participation Potential  1
Overall Appropriateness for Storytime 1