[.ca] Circle Dogs (ISBN 0688154468)

From Amazon.com:
Ah, essence of dog. You wouldn't want to bottle it, but Kevin Henkes, creator of Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse and illustrator Dan Yaccarino have transformed the concept into an exquisite read-aloud book for dog-loving preschoolers. We meet the two circle dogs, who live in a big, square house, early in the morning when they first wake up. They proceed to roust everyone, distribute good-morning kisses, run in the yard, and dig circle holes. "Circle dogs like circle snacks--crunch, crunch, crunch--right from your hand. They like to play. / They like to roll. / They like to eat. / And then they like to sleep and sleep and sleep and sleep." Yaccarino, creator of Zoom, Zoom, Zoom, I'm Off to the Moon, An Octopus Followed Me Home, and Good Night, Mr. Night, shines in this 1950s-style, boldly graphic, shape-saturated tribute to the dachshund, or as Henkes sees it, "everydog." Preschoolers will revel in the supreme dogginess of it all--the circling, snapping, sniffing, gulping, smacking, and face-licking--and adults will be charmed by how artfully and elegantly Henkes and Yaccarino capture the canine je ne sais quoi in this fresh, original bedtime book. Arf! (Click to see a sample spread. Text © 1998 by Kevin Henkes. Illustrations © 1998 by Dan Yaccarino. With permission of Greenwillow Books.) (Ages 2 to 5) --Karin Snelson

To be read aloud again -- and again!:
Our three-year-old, who's a big fan of Margaret Wise Brown, absolutely loves the sounds and rhythms of this story, and wants it read again and again. She now recites it word for word. The illustrations by Dan Yaccarino give this book a really different feel from Henkes's books about mice but that's okay. In fact, the change magnifies the strength of his writing for small children. Like Margaret Wise Brown, he really understands their world view. A great book!

Lame indeed:
To be fair, my son liked this book reasonably well at age 3 or so. But his mom, dad, and grandmother HATED it every time that was the book he chose for us to read to him. Once in a while, there is a pleasantly poetic sound to the text, but overall, both the text and the "drawings" (which I could do on my computer)are aggressively simplistic, with no hint of cleverness or nuancing. Good children's books entertain not only children, but the adults who read to them. In a world with books by Maurice Sendak, Margaret Wise Brown, Roald Dahl, Shel Silverstein, Dr. Seuss, and more (including, when he's feeling a little more subtle, Kevin Henkes), it is unclear why anyone would pick this book. Instead, choose something BOTH you and your child enjoy - it will be a lot easier to instill a love of books if you don't have to hide your disdain while you're reading to your child.

I don't get it!:
I love Kevin Henkes' other books, and I love dogs (we have three). So you'd think that this book would have been love at first sight. But I don't get it. Sorry Kevin! Give me more Lilly, Julius, and Wendell.......and I'll keep coming back for more.

Daughter likes it:
My girl just turned 4 and is very artistic/graphic, and she just thinks this book is terrific (even though it says babies to preschool). I agree with the other reviewer, the plot is rather, um... lacking or bizarre (ie. it's never going to be one of my favorites). But she likes the pictures and the conceptualization of it, so I think that's the point. Now she goes around town and see's large O's and says "circle dogs!"

Beautiful in its simplicity:
I saw that an earlier reviewer criticized the illustrations in this book as "overly simplistic" and lacking in cleverness. I had to write in myself, because I believe Circle Dogs is one of the most perfectly illustrated children's books in years. The pictures are simple, to be sure, but absolutely brilliant! It takes tremendous artistic sophistication to conjure up a whole world with a few simple shapes and colors. Yaccarino's illustrations draw you into a child's-eye miracle world of shapes and sounds, yaps and slurps and whirlwind motion. And toddlers are utterly entranced. I'm buying another copy to give as a gift right now!