Dog's ABC: A Silly Story about the Alphabet

by Emma Dodd

Preschoolers are introduced to the alphabet as Dog sets out for a great day of adventure as he jumps over gates, runs up hills, rolls on the grass, and more.

Genres: Picture Books, Dogs, Childrens, Storytime, Humor, Animals

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 28, 2002

About the author

Emma Dodd Author/Illustrator

Emma was brought up in Guildford, Surrey, in a family of artists and from as far back as she can remember she has wanted to be an illustrator.
Emma studied Graphic Design and Illustration at Central Saint Martin's School of Art and has worked extensively in advertising, editorial and book illustration.
She was nominated for the Booktrust Early Years Award in 2006 for her book "What Pet to Get" and in 2009 for "Miaow said the Cow"
Emma lives in Surrey with her husband and two children, who provide inspiration for her work, and their Jack Russel Terrier, Bart, who keeps her fit. She likes to spend any spare time in North Cornwall, surfing and walking in all weathers.

Reviews

[Nancy Kotkin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Text: 3 stars
Illustrations: 3 stars

This is both a picture book story and an alphabet book. The story traces Dog through an average day - playing, chasing other animals outside, eating, and napping. One word per page is pulled out of the story to highlight a letter of the alphabet. An interesting idea, but in this case, the story and the alphabet component seem to compete with one another. I'm not sure if this is due to the presentation, or if this concept could be made to work more successfully.

[Jessica RiffeKincaid · Rating 3 out of 5]

Myself and my little girl was slightly disappointed in this book. The entireity of the book was okay with the help in teaching and learning the letters of the alphabet along with an object that taught how that specific letter coordinated with the picture, however, the only letter that I did not care for was X. Instead of using an object in the storyline that began with the letter X and showing the coordinating picture, they decided to use the word eXtremely, and the facial representation was expressed on the main character in this book, which was the Dog. I felt that explaination and teaching option was inappropriate and not at all correct. The story was a little boring, but short and easy to read. But the way the story was written was slightly confusing as well. The section towards the end of the book that showed the letters of the alphabet and coordinated them with the appropriate pictures was a great teaching method, as my daughter caught on quick and it was easy and fun for her to learn. However, I was overall disappointed in the way this book was done all together.

[Jessica Schasteen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very cute alphabet book. It connects words in the story to letters in the alphabet to teach kids. I think the book would be more useful to kids if it emphasized the next alphabet word instead of just writing the word at the page. Aside from that, I think the story is very cute and that the illustrations are well done.

[Jane Njoroge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dog's ABC: A Silly Story about the Alphabet
by Emma Dodd
The book has won the hearts of kindergarten children. The book is fun as it talks about different animals teaching children about the alphabet. The book is easy to read and understand,and it is involving.

[Jennifer Fischer · Rating 4 out of 5]

My preschooler enjoyed the story that went along with the alphabet words. She wouldn’t have been able to pick out all the alphabet words based on the pictures, but the story helped her figure out most of them. The only reason why I didn’t give this book a 5 star rating was because the letter “X” going with the word “extremely” doesn’t make sense when all the other words associated with letters use the letter at the beginning of the word. When we reviewed that one was one of the only ones she couldn’t remember (along with Vicky).

[Caleb Moes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I choose this book because I needed a picture story book. I wanted to choose one based on the alphabet because that is what we were doing in class around that time. This book is cute, it introduces different animals to the main character (a dog) and that is how the new alphabet is used. It could work well with young students just starting to learn the alphabet.

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a busy day for Dog as he travels through the alphabet - eating, chasing things, and being stung by an insect. Will there ever be time for a nap?

Cute story, with bold, bright illustrations by the author.

[Goshen PL Childrens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read at Storytime on September 4th
Theme: Stories that A,B, & C

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dog's ABC: A Silly Story about the Alphabet by Emma Dodd is romp through the alphabet with slightly clumsy dog.

Dodd's bold illustrations are a combination of drawing and digitally applied color. Among the featured animals are bird, cat, dog, duck, fish, frog and insect. The mostly double page spreads produce large pictures. My favorite illustrations are apple, cat, over, meal, quack, dripping, things, and final image.

While lots of common things are pictured in this playful story, Meal, Quack, and eXtremely are the more unusual letter choices, with extremely not working as well as most others. Featuring the key word for each page at the bottom is helpful, but having that key word in a contrasting color within the text or capitalized might have further helped listeners/readers focus on it. This is a fun and playful alphabet book for the older preschool and kindergarten crowd. 3.5 stars

For ages 4 to 5.5, alphabet, dogs, animals, neighborhood, and fans of Emma Dodd.

[Julia Jasztal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mommy's review from 11/22/11 -


This is too young for Julia to sit and listen to so she helped me read the story and I like to sprinkle in stories like this - non-I-Like-to-Read books or Level Readers - because then she gets to work out some unexpected words on her own. For that the book did well.
But at the same time, at 6 years old, the story bored her. The short little fat dog was illustrated well, we both really liked that part.
Someone else who reviewed the book mentioned the letter 'x' and I have to agree. It couldn't have been too hard to integrate a word beginning with the letter 'x' into the story. After all there are a great many words that wouldn't have been used in the same manner has the book not been in relation to teaching the alphabet. 'Insect' instead of 'bee' is used for the letter 'i' which obviously, in a story not trying to teach the alphabet the author would have most likely used 'bee'. But, it's not the end of the world and I had fun listening to Julia sound out some new words.

[Jen Zuvella · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this book was very cute. The story was understandable and the pictures explained the letter of the alphabet that we were on. Little children could easily follow along with the story and pictures, but the book seems to be a bit more advanced compared to other ABC books. At the end of the story it repeats every character, animal, and object that was used as an alphabet, which could be helpful to a lot of children. But I would definitely wait to read this story to children who already somewhat knew the alphabet. Only downside to this book is for the letter X Emma Dodd didn’t use a word that started with X, but she used the word extremely and underlined the letter x. Overall the book does cover the alphabet in a cute and creative way.

[Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another Dog adventure. Dog is left by Vicky to wander the great wide world, seeking adventure and a nap. But his napping efforts just keep on getting foiled.

This time, Dog treats injury by eating food.

Great book, but a word that starts with X should have been found. Let's not confuse people by using eXtremely for X. I don't care if it's Dog tripping over a Xylophone, Dog unearthing an abandoned Xerox machine, or dog complaining about the Xylitol in Vicky's gum. The laziness on Z I'll accept, but c'mon. X. It's not the first time someone's had to make an awkward example just to fit X into a lesson about letters.

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the book was really cute. It broadens childrens vocabulary while entertaining them with a cute story at the same time. It is all about a dog who goes on an adventure and throughout the adventure he encounters things that start with the letters of the alphabet. I do think that this book could have been better by having the words that were using the alphabet letters capitalized because at times I was confused on what letter was being used.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing can match the simple brilliance of Dog's Colorful Day, but this alphabet adventure is pretty good. I like how it uses the ABCs as a loose structure for the narrative, instead of trying to shoehorn the alphabetical word sequence into a tighter, shorter text. Instead of highlighting the letter shapes and vocabulary words within the story, it pulls them out at the bottom of the page.

[Edna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute and clever way to introduce the alphabet by using what Dog sees and comes in contact while romping through his neighborhood. Double page illustrations are simple, bright and colorful and the text is playful!

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great illustrations but the story is somewhat random although it goes through the letters of the alphabet.

Dog is back and into as much trouble as ever. The clumsy canine finds an alphabet's worth of adventure as he patrols his neighborhood..."

[Nan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe too complicated for a kid without phonemic awareness, but probably okay for an average reader.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am fond of all the Dog books. Large, clear, fun to share.

[Jamie]

Defintely a book for older kids (4-5).

[Savannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun book to read and then point out each letter afterwards.

[Brandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun alphabet picture book following the adventures of a silly dog. Fun bright illustrations.

[Casandria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Way clunkier version of ABC story.

[Miss Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dog goes through his day encountering things from a to z. Cute and didn't get boring to me.

[Paige M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super cute alphabet story. LOVE all of Dodd's dog books. At the end, there's a recap of all the things dog saw A-Z that could aid retelling.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dog is so cute. I read this to some preschoolers and they really liked it.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

What better way to share an adventure with Dog, than a fun story learning the alphabet from A to Z. Come along as Dog takes the reader on a bumbling romp with him and his adventure filled day.

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

I kind of wish for better words for a few letters, but it was otherwise great. A huge board book and clear illustrations.

[Kailey Witt]

sad