Dog and Bear

You know when you’ve had a day that leaves you empty, brainless, lifeless? That was yesterday (well… actually, that was basically the past two weeks).  There are few better ways to perk me up than a perfect picture book, and yesterday, one such lovely was waiting for me at the library. Voila:

There are many reasons to love this book. Here are 3:

1) It’s simple. There isn’t a lot of fancy stuff happening in the story. Laura Vaccaro Seeger has brought the two characters to life using so few words. Every word counts and every word works. It isn’t easy to create a story with such simple text that also manages to be funny in a subtle way.

2) The illustration – so, so good. Dog (aka dachshund extraordinaire) could not look more charming, and more wiener-dog-ish. I want my own, framed copy of Dog on his motorcycle, or dog with his sock monkey, to hang up and look at and smile about every day.

3) There are 3 mini-stories in one volume. I think kids will like this. This book is a beautiful choice for parents to read aloud to their kids, since it won’t be long before the children can take over and read one of the stories themselves.

Dog and Bear has won the 2007 Boston-Globe Horn Book Award. 7 Imp loved it too, and School Library Journal has an interview with Laura Seeger herself.

Dog and Bear is published by Neal Porter Books.