City Dog - Softcover

Karla Kuskin in the acclaimed author and illustrator of more than forty books for young readers, including City Dog, a New York Times Notable Book and a John Burroughs Outstanding Nature Book for Children. The winner of the prestigious NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children, Ms. Kuskin's work has been widely anthologized. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, and Arlington, Virginia.

Ages 4-7. The phrase "It's a dog's life" gets a reverse meaning in this happy romp. A more contented pooch never graced the pages of a picture book than this pup, who enthusiastically drags her tangled leash and poky owners to the car as they set out on a trip to the seashore. Unleashed, city dog revels in its freedom, only vaguely curious about the absence of buildings. Every new sight is amazing: "Soft grass, warm ground, rabbit holes to paw and nose, fast bikes, bare toes. Blue waves, crabs, crows." The reader is visually drawn into the action by the strong horizontal line of the strained red leash, which stretches across the preliminary pages. Once the city is left behind and the leash is unfastened, cool green hills and blue sea and sky provide both soothing backdrop and comical contrast to the dog's energetic antics. In two particularly effective scenes, city dog is, in true doggy fashion, literally everywhere at once. The mixed-meter, rhymed verse is a joy to read aloud and strong enough to stand on its own without illustration. The complete running text of the poem is appended. Elizabeth Bush