If You Were a Dog
No. of pages 40
Published: 2014
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This book is the winner of numerous awards
This book is part of a book series called If You Were a .
There are 40 pages in this book.
This is a picture book. A picture book uses pictures and text to tell the story. The number of words varies from zero ('wordless') to around 1k over 32 pages. Picture books are typically aimed at young readers (age 3-6) but can also be aimed at older children (7+).
This book was published in 2014 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc .
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.
This book is in the following series:
This book has been nominated for the following award:
The Charlotte Zolotow Award is given annually to the author of the best picture book text published in the United States in the preceding year. Any picture book for young children (birth through age seven) originally written in English and published by a U.S. or Canadian publisher in 2024 will be eligible for consideration for the 2025 Zolotow Award. The book may be fiction, nonfiction or folklore, as long as it is presented in picture book form for children in the birth through age seven range. Translated books, poetry collections, and easy readers are not eligible.
Established in 1998, the award is named to honor the work of Charlotte Zolotow, a distinguished children’s book editor for 38 years with Harper Junior Books. The award was established and is administered by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, a children’s literature library of the School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Each year a committee of children’s literature experts selects the winner from the books published in the preceding year. Members of the selection committee are appointed to a two-year term by the CCBC professional staff based on an individual’s knowledge of children’s books, a demonstrated ability to evaluate children’s books and discuss them critically, and/or direct experience working professionally with children from birth through age seven. A CCBC librarian serves as one of the five members. Members are appointed to staggered, two-year terms. The committee will select one winner. It may also designate up to five honor books and up to ten titles to be included on a highly commended list that will call attention to outstanding writing in picture books.
"Elegant, curious free verse and lush watercolors combine in a jaunty musing about the wonders of zoological pretending." --Booklist
"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
"Swenson's playful language and Raschka's amiable cartoons lend a welcome unpredictability to this animal game." --Publisher's Weekly
