A Dog Named Doug

 A Dog Named Doug

By Karma Willson

Illustrated by: Matt Myers

Published 2018 by 

Marketing Synopsis:

Dogs love to dig but one dog named Doug takes digging to new heights (and depths) in this laugh-out-loud picture book from New York Times bestselling author Karma Wilson and celebrated illustrator Matt Myers.

Meet Doug. Doug is a dog that loves to dig. But when Doug digs he doesn’t just dig holes in the backyard.

He digs…ditches the size of tractors!
He digs…tunnels through gold mines!
He even digs his way into…the White House!

But not even the Secret Service can stop this digging doggy, because when Doug digs, oh boy, does Doug DIG!

The Author

Karma Willson

The Illustrator

Matt Myers

The Art

This book is all about the art!  The Artist had so much fun crafting and creating this personality of his wacky dog and his obsession with digging.  I've also used the illustrations in instructing my daughter of just how difficult letters are formed.  Doug always starts here, and digs to there.  An excellent teaching tool for beginning writers.

What I Liked

The story isn't a traditional linear story, nor is it your typical simple reader. It is a little of both, with a main character and a dramatic situation that teaches words and proper usage.  

 Doug gets into a contest with a gopher and wins!  Doug finds treasure and tosses it aside (my heart!).  Doug even visits the White House and escapes the secret service!  

What I Loved!

The sneaky education!  This story covers words that rhyme, similes, synonyms, and tenses as well as a lesson in writing. The illustrations are carefully crafted into this creative bit of storytelling. Words like Doug, dug, dog, and dig, among others, are used to teach the importance of vowels while still charming the reader and the parents.

The Take Away

50% of the picture book is the pictures!  And "A Dog Named Doug", the illustrations are certainly half the fun.  Young kids learning how to write, will have fun drawing Doug's path through his underground tunnels which form difficult letters such as D, U, G, and Y.  Older kids will have fun learning the differences between Doug, dug, dog, and dig.  Parents will cringe at all the destruction and have way too much fun reading about all the treasures Doug finds only to pass them over.  

This is a great book for children and parents alike with tons of re-read value.  Recommended for parents of kids learning how to read and write.  

If you're interested in purchasing this book for your little reader, please us my Amazon Link.  It really helps me out.  

Thank you for your interest.  

I'll see you on the next page.  

 Jumper

 A Day in the Life of a Backyard Jumping Spider 

By: Jessica Lana
Roaring Brook Press: 2023

Synopsis: 

What if you were as small as a bean and could walk on the walls and ceiling, sense vibrate ugh your elbows, jump five times your body length, see e world rough eight eyes and hear using tiny hairs all over your body?

That is Jumper’s world.  

Opens this book and discover the fascinating hidden life of a backyard jumping spider.

Vid:    

 About the Author:   Jessica Lanan is a children’s books author and illustrator who created her first picture book at the age of eight.  After graduating from college, she took a travel set of watercolors and inadvertently began her illustration career.  This is Jessica’s fourth book with Roaring Book Press. Following Just Rights Searching for the Goldenilocks planet, Finding Narnia: The Story of C.S. Lewis and His Brother, and The Lost Package.  She lives in Boulder, Colorado.

The Art 

The Illustrations in this book were created using ink, watercolor, and ganache according toe the copy write text.  

Jessica has been drawing her whole life and it shows in these illusions.  They are immersive.  They are rich with color and show movement, presence and perspective in a unique way.  In my opinion these illustrations entertain the reader and enrich the story  in a way author/illustrators usually struggle to do.  In fact….

What I Loved

- It’s rare to find an author/illustrator who puts equal weight in both the story and the pictures the way Jessica Lanan has in Jumper.  The illustrations don’t tell a separate story as much as they enhance the information being shared.  

There is a little girl paralleling everything Jumper is experiencing - hunger, danger, athletic feats.  And this really helped my daughter empathize with the little spider as she watched someone else doing what the spider was doing and thought …”me too” the whole time.

I also loved the use of the “What if” question at the start of each major topic.  That question spurs imagination and triggers conversation.  Idk if Jessica meant to, but this became a book of not only scientific facts about a spider, but also teaching mathematical scale, and gave us a way to talk about proportions as I described how far the little spider could jump.  

What I Liked

The theme of empathy for the little spider has spared the life of four jumping spiders that daughter has come across.  My husband even spared  a little wolf spider he'd  found in the grass.  Usually he’d have crushed it without hesitation.  This time he actually stopped to observe it, let us look at, and then marveled at how fast it was when it disappeared into the grass.

Lessons to Take away

This book is an excellent example of how to write to the illustrations, or illustrate to the writing.  Both compliment each other equally.  One is not more impressive than the other.

Jumper is more than an educational book about jumping spiders, it is an adventure about a little spider just trying to survive in a garden.  

Concepts: This story effortlessly pacts in concepts of math, empathy, science, and perspective without feeling preachy.  And does so in a way that affects the reader but doesn’t drown them in guilt

Conclusion:  

I love this book!  It's a great example of how to do engaging non-fiction that helps parents entertain and educate their kids.  The illustrations enhance the information.  This is a story that is fun kids will want come back to it again and again.  

10 our of 10 - would recommend to Teachers, Parents, and Librarians.  

If you’re interested in this book and you want to help me out please use my Amazon Associates Link to the give it try:  Jumper: A Day in the Life of a Backyard Jumping Spider

And I'll see you on the Next Page