Arf! Beg! Catch!: Dogs from A to Z

by Henry Horenstein

A collection of full-color photos captures dogs of all shapes and sizes at play, rest and work in this lively picture book for young children. 35,000 first printing.

Genres: Picture Books

40 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1999

About the author

Henry Horenstein (b. 1947, Boston) is an American artist photographer. Henry Horenstein has worked as a photographer, teacher and author since the early 1970s. He is the author of over 30 books, including a series of photographic textbooks that have been used by hundreds of thousands of students over the past 30 years. In 2003, Chronicle Books published Honky Tonk, Horenstein's documentary survey of country music during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Honk Tonk was also presented as an exhibition by the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in 2006. His work has been collected by many institutions including the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C.; the George Eastman House, Rochester, New York; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Library of Congress; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia. Henry Horenstein current lives in Boston and teaches at the Rhode Island School of Design.

Reviews

[Laura DeGrave · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must have for young dog lovers learning their alphabet with small beginner words in relation to the photographs on display.
An example is "Ee" with the word "ears", showing a picture of a dog's ears.
***
This is a large book--may be difficult for small hands to hold up.

[Jodysegal · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 starts. Arf! Beg! Catch! is a fun alphabet book for the young dog-lover. Realistic photos of all kinds of dogs on the move (b is for beg) or by body part (e is for ear) or concept (q is for quick) illustrate each letter of the alphabet.

CIP: Labeled illustrations present words related in some way to dogs.

SLJ: Yes, the canines are appealing, but there are no people to give balance, and no information on the dogs themselves.

The Reading Teacher calls the book wonderful and points out that the engaging photos have children guessing what the dogs will do for the next letter of the alphabet.

[Taylor Howard]

This book uses words like "hairy" "jump" and "ears" to stand for each letter of the alphabet. This book would be wonderful for any child learning their alphabet because it would keep their interest throughout the whole thing. Older children would also be interested in this book even if they already know the alphabet because of the pictures. The pictures Henry Horenstein chooses are very clear, interesting and sometimes funny. They were a much better choice that drawing pictures of dogs because they are very fun to look at.

[Slayermel · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book lists a word to correspond with each letter of the Alphabet from A-Z.
The pictures are very cute but I could see it being a bit hard for younger children to try and guess from looking at the picture what the word would be, examples litter, mutt.

[Deeanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great pictures!!

[Allison Fish]

1. no awards
2. preK-K
3. Beginning at A and ending at Z the author uses dog related words to work through the alphabet. While learning a little about dogs children also learn the letters in order.
4. The pictures used help identify the word for that letter which is useful for students. Additionally, the letters are big making them easier to identify.
5. a. another way to talk about the alphabet
b. helps students learn new vocabulary words if they are interested in dogs