Synopses & Reviews
If you could be any kind of animal, what would you be? Would you be a dog that goes ARRRROOOOOOO? Or maybe you would be a sharp-toothed dinosaur that can CHOMP, STOMP, ROAR! Perhaps you might want to be a hopping frog that goes BOING, BOING, RIBBET! But maybe you would want to be the best kind of animal of all: a child!
With joyful, impressionistic illustrations from Caldecott Medal-winning illustrator Chris Raschka and spare, rhythmic text from author Jamie A. Swenson that invites playful interaction, If You Were a Dog is the perfect read-aloud for your favorite little animal.
Review
"Not so much a story as an imaginative survey of creatures great and small, this book presents a variety of animal just being themselves. Swenson's playful direct-address text is chock-full of sound effects and rollicking rhythms that beg to be read aloud." - The Horn Book
"Raschka brings movement, energy, and personality to his vibrantly colored art . . . A fun way to get readers to use their imaginations in the natural world." - School Library Journal
"Addressing both a winsome girl character and child readers, Swenson invites kids to speculate what sort of dog, cat, fish, bird, bug, frog and dinosaur they might want to be . . . Swenson's rhythmic cadences coupled with Raschka's wry, upbeat illustrations yield a title that's a cheery picker-upper." - Kirkus Reviews
“Swensons playful language and Raschkas amiable cartoons lend a welcome unpredictability to this animal game.” -Publisher's Weekly
About the Author
Jamie A. Swenson works as an associate librarian and early literacy storyteller. She is also the author of Boom! Boom! Boom!, illustrated by David Walker. She lives in Janesville, Wisconsin. Chris Raschka has written and/or illustrated over thirty books for children, including the Caldecott Medal-winning titles A Ball for Daisy and The Hello, Goodbye Window; as well as the Caldecott Honor book Yo! Yes? He lives in New York City.