If You Were a Dog

PreS-Gr 2—This book's cover art, depicting a child thinking about a dog, is indicative of this playful journey through the animal world. Swenson asks readers to imagine themselves as several different animals, including a dinosaur, a bug, and a bird, and decide how that creature's qualities would appeal to them. For instance, would the child like to be a "sea-sparkler; ocean-swimming, coral-peeker;/wave-jumping,/flash-of-color; toe-nibbler,/faster-than-the-big-fish sort of fish?" After this fun list of descriptive words, Swenson comes back to another specific quality of that animal: "Would you splash in the surf? Some fish do." These lists help emphasize the diversity of species and the many ways these animals engage with their environment. The text has a rhyming, sing-song quality that makes it a great match for preschool storytimes. Raschka brings movement, energy, and personality to his vibrantly colored art. With just a few strokes, he makes a hissing cat puff up in anger at a nearby dog, ferocious and threatening. Readers can act out the characteristics of that cat or fish as the story is read. However, this could also be used in a classroom, both as a model for creative writing or as a beginning point for expanded study on a given species. A fun way to get readers to use their imaginations in the natural world.—Susan E. Murray, formerly at Glendale Public Library, AZ