Open Me...I'm a Dog!

It's a book! It's a dog! It's a book you can walk on a leash! It's a dog that will sit on your bookshelf! It's a fun dog book that you and your kids will love!This clever book, which comes complete with nylon leash, wagging tail, and fuzzy endpapers, insists that it is a dog. He was a normal puppy until he got lost in the enchanted woods. He finds a home with kindly old witch (by witch standards she was nice, anyway), but when he used her best broom as a chew toy, she turns him into a German Shepherd.That's right. A shepherd. On a mountain top in Germany. You were thinking of the other kind, weren't you? That's part of the fun of this book -- wonderful plays on words.By the time the puppy finishes his story, he's begging the reader to believe that he is, really and truly, a dog. He may not be like other dogs, "but at least I don't have fleas and I never bite." And he'll never make puddles on your carpet if you let him be a part of your family. If only all dogs were like that!My kids won't let me trade in our two real dogs for more like this one, but they love spending time with this dog, er, book. My seven year old can read it all by herself, and her almost five year old brother has memorized it so he can "read" it, too.

I had so much fun reading this book to my grandchildren that I have bought copies for all of them and to give as gifts to other children. They love having it read to them and I love seeing the thinking going on as they try to decide if this book really is a dog or if I am just playing with their minds again. I highly recommend this fun and charming book.

My daughter (7) got this book as a present from her grandmother and just had to read it to me. When I saw the author's name on the cover, I tried to think, "Where had I heard that name before?" Well, in a few seconds, the answer came to me... "OF COURSE! I've got his comic books on my bookshelves! Wow! Now Mr. Spiegelman's gone and drawn a children's book." It took me a minute to get a hold of myself so my daughter could read the darn thing to me. The style is quite consistent with what he drew for Maus. It's a great book that works on different levels. As said elsewhere, Open Me... I'm a Dog is a work of art in itself. When my daughter is older, I can introduce her to Maus and she'll probably say, "I've read Mr. Spiegelman's work before. He's neat!"

Art Spielman, a New Yorker artist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of MAUS won a Publisher's Weekly 1997 CUFFIE (most unusual children's book) for Open Me...I'm a Dog! Open Me...I'm a Dog! is indeed unusual because the book is suppose to be a live dog. Children will delight in the dog's attempt to convince them that they are interacting with a real dog. The dog asks the reader a series of simple questions that if answered yes, prove that the book is really a dog. The book has a pop-up tail that wags, fur that the reader can pet. If the reader is still not convinced the book is actually a dog, a leash has been attached to the spine of the book just in case the reader would like to take the book/dog for a walk. Open Me...I'm a Dog is a wonderful book to read-aloud to children. The illustrations are bold and vivid. The size of the book also contributes to the illusion that the reader is holding a "small dog" in their hands. The dog's tale of how he came to find himself in the predicament that he is in, would delight and spur today's child's imagination to soar. If children enjoy Open Me...I"m a Dog! they will find Mysterious Thelonious by Chris Raschka, Raising Dragons by Jerdine Nolen and i see the rhythm by Toyomi Igus equally entertaining.

Undoubtedly it will be adults -- parents, aunts, uncles, friends -- who are drawn to "Open Me, I'm a Dog." Art Spiegelman's name (as the Pulitzer-prize winning creator of MAUS), the highly-conceptual nature of the book and the art itself appeal to an adult's sense of what is "cool" for children. Good-intentioned aunts and uncles will fawn over this book, while parents lacking imagination will believe it isn't really intended for children. And that, unfortunately, is where they'll be wrong. Because "Open Me, I'm a Dog" is an ideal, silly book for a 4- or 5-year-old child. Kids' imaginations are easily fueled at this stage; they just know that inanimate objects have lives of their own; they're sure that there's a side of life that adults just can't understand; they understand that a book should be petted and loved just as often as a lovable canine. So, why couldn't a curse have turned a dog into a book? It can, of course, in this delightfully simple but mischievous romp. A pop-up wagging tale , a hidden bull frog (the size of a bull, no less) and a leash for the book, er, I mean, DOG, complete the package. This small, portable book (there I go again - I meant to say DOG) would make an ideal gift for someone who is 4, 14 or 40.