Dog by Matthew Van Fleet and Photographed by Brain Stanton.  Ages 2+. Simon & Schuster. Feb 2007. Fiction. 20 pages. ISBN-13: 978-1416941378.  $17.99 (On Amazon for $4.00)

The Short:  This book was my son’s favorite book for over a year.  From the time he was 6 months old until he was 18 months old — this was the book he looked at every single morning.  We absolutely love this book and HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend it.  (Okay, so technically, I’m the one recommending it — but my son loves this book and if he understood the concept of recommending — I have no doubt that he would recommend this book to babies and toddlers everywhere.)  This is one of the best purchases I made for my son.  It kept him entertained for hours.

The Long:  I bought this book for my son at a great secondhand bookstore one day when he was about six months old.  This book is for two-year olds and older — and for good reason.  My son destroyed this book.  The only reason he stopped looking at it around 18 months was because the book was completely annihilated.  I just repurchased it — there are used copies on Amazon for $4.00 (including shipping).  I’ll put it away for Christmas.  I’m sure it’ll be just as big of a hit the second time as it was the first time.

This book has everything!  The images are clear and beautiful.  There are flaps to lift, tails to wag, and heads to shake.  The rhythm of the words are easy going and fun. “Perky little puppy dog, wag, wag, wag.”  When my son was a little over a year old he learned how to “wag” from this book and he would wag his head back and forth when we got to this section.  It was super cute.

There’s nothing to edit or change when reading this to a child of any age.  The only thing about giving this book to a very young toddler is that they can easily destroy this book.  It is fairly fragile and really should be read to them with close adult supervision.  Even with supervision they may still reach out and pull off a piece here and there. (It is only paper, so I never really saw it as a choking hazard — but I’m sure anything can be a choking hazard given the right circumstances.)

I’m looking forward to having this book in the house again.  Of all Matthew Van Fleet’s books, this one is my favorite.  Moo comes in a close second, followed by Cat, and then Alphabet.  He has a few others like Heads and Tails, but we haven’t gotten to those yet.  I’m sure they’re all great.

I hope you get to experience this book with your little one.  It is such a wonderful book and a real joy to share with kids again and again and again.

Where Obtained:  Purchased from our local secondhand bookstore.

FTC Disclosures: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” If you click on the link and purchase the book, I will receive an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”