Digger Dog

by William Bee, Cecilia Johansson

This is the story of very energetic and determined dog! Digger Dog loves to dig up bones . . . the bigger the better. But for the biggest bone in the world, what will Digger Dog need? The biggest digger in the world, of course!All through the story, the diggers get bigger, the hole gets deeper and there is the most fantastic fold-out surprise at the end! It has all the ingredients for a brilliant picture book for pre-schoolers, with an obvious nod towards boys. Simple, repetitive words trip off the tongue making this great fun to read aloud – again and again – as this is destined to be a bedtime favourite!

Genres: Picture Books, Dogs, Storytime, Dinosaurs, Construction, Childrens, Animals

32 pages, Hardcover

First published July 4, 2013

About the author

William Bee was born in London but now lives in the English countryside. In addition to writing children’s books, he races a vintage sports car, is an international skier, and when at home tends his lawns and meadows.

Reviews

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favourite picture books this year. I think I've read it about 20 times to different children groups. It's such a fun book to read to kids, and get them to Dig Dig Dig along with Digger Dog. And then the awesome surprise at the end always gets a "WOW"!!

Highly recommend you have a copy of this in your collection

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a whole, the text was pretty mediocre but the surprise ending was totes worth it. *UPDATE: went better at my rambunctious preschool story time than I thought it would. Adults and kids alike were engaged.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this at storytime and the kids' jaws dropped. Might have to purchase a copy.

[Joanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Digger Dog is great at sniffing out bones and digging them up, but one day he finds one that requires more OOMPH than he has in just his paws. The kiddo I read this too REALLY LOVES DIGGERS and was rather impatient to get to see an actual digger, so the build up as Digger Dog tried digging up his bone only to need to go get some extra help nearly killed the kid. I enjoyed how each digger got progressively larger until the LARGEST DIGGER IN THE WHOLE WORLD required you to unfold four pages! The surprise at the end with Digger Dog finding not just one bone but an entire skeleton (also requiring a large fold out of four pages), was fun as well. The kiddo I read this to liked to unfold the large digger and just look at the whole page, pointing out everything in the page and all the different parts of the digger. Definitely a favorite.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun book for young children. I read it at the end of a story time for parents and two year olds. I think the fold out pages helped maintain their interest, and the repeated text would make it a fun book to read over and over again to young kids, because they could learn to anticipate.. "the ground was still too hard and the bone was still too deep...." Although it really isn't a construction book, I used it as part of a construction themed story time because of the way the equipment that Digger Dog uses.

[The Brothers · Rating 3 out of 5]

A dog sniffs out a bone, but he ground is just to hard for him to dig it out. So he tries a small digger. Not good enough. He keeps swapping higher up for bigger and bigger diggers until he finally reaches the bone. But perhaps he is missing an even bigger picture?

Illustrations are good.

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

1-2 sentences per page. About a dog digging for a bone and having to keep getting a bigger digger. Has two huge 4-page openers (fold up)! Has a fun ending of thinking he found the biggest bone but it's really part of a giant dinosaur skeleton.

[Mckinley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun surprise at the end.

[Milton Louie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Digger Dog finds a very unusual bone! B

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Construction, repetition, revelation!

Tags:
Dogs
Construction
Diggers/excavator
Repetitive text
Size
Dinosaurs
Fold out pages
Clever

[MeganRuth - Alohamora Open a Book · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book for the child who loves construction vehicles and dogs. The combination in this book makes it a fun book for toddlers. Read this one with your child.

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! One of the kids I read it to exclaimed, "That was fun!" at the end.

[Alyisha AmesFree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Digger Dog is like a "Greatest Hits" picture book. It has it all: dinosaurs, dogs, construction vehicles...you name it! Plus, there's a fun, fold-out reveal at the end.

[Eleanor Darcy · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVE the dinosaur twist at the end ❤️

[Christine Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Digger Dog loves to dig up bones, the bigger the better. But for the biggest bone in the world, what will Digger Dog need? The biggest digger in the world, of course! All through the story, the diggers get bigger, the hole gets deeper, and there is a fantastic fold-out surprise at the end!
Subject:
Dogs -- Pictorial works
Excavating machinery -- Pictorial works.
Fossils -- Pictorial works.
Picture books for children

Notes
William Bee was born in London, but now lives in the English countryside. As well as writing books, he races a vintage sports car, is an international skier, and when at home tends his lawns and meadow. He rarely leaves his tiny village, except for international skiing and vintage racing, but his daily walks lead to friendly encounters with the local wildlife. He knows the local weasels, grass snakes, moles, and hedgehogs, as well as the family of deer that lives in his yard.

Cecilia Johansson divides her time between her shared studio in arty Stockholm and her boyfriend's small old cottage an hour outside the city, where the only neighbors are Mr. Elk and the Fox family. When not illustrating in her studio, she likes to play outdoors. She finds a lot of inspiration in nature and loves to go on long runs -- she is training for her fifth marathon!

[Maggie KutsBorg · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great, great storytime read. The kids love the topic (Digger Dog sniffs a bone underground and uses a series of bigger and bigger diggers to get it out) - dogs and construction equipment - and they were absolutely still and absorbed in this book. There's awesome repetition, lots of fun sounds to make, and HUGE fold out pages that got Oohs and Aahs from the parents. And everyone - little kids and adults alike - was amazed by the big reveal: Digger Dog's 'biggest bone in the world' is just the finger bone of a huge buried dinosaur! (May 15 2014)


I read this again for a dog-themed storytime and it was just as big a hit as it was last time. One of my classes burst into spontaneous applause when it was over! I would definitely recommend giving it a try for storytime classes with kids 2-5. (July 24 2014)

[Cemeread · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read aloud book for both the children and parents because it's fun to read! There's plenty of repetition (that's not boring or too long) and alliteration. The pages are thick so little hands will find them easier to turn. The fold outs are great. Both are full page foldouts so they should last longer than the type that fold just out or up and seem to not lay back in the book correctly. The illustrations are cute, colorful, and safety conscience. Check out the hard hats the animals wear and the cones! I'm sure the author left out the names of the diggers to keep the alliteration going and I'm glad he did since it's so much more fun to read this way. One can always add the names with the machines in another activity, like the colors of the diggers. There's even a touch of humor at the end.

[Joella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Youngsters who love dogs or digging or construction tools will love this book. It is about a dog who can smell a bone…so he starts digging. But this bone is way down deep, so he has to get some help to dig. He gets machine after machine that is good at digging–each one being just a bit larger and bigger than before. But Digger Dog still can’t get the bone that he smells…until he gets the biggest digger in the whole world. Finally Digger Dog gets the biggest bone in the whole world…or is it? This is a fun story with two great big pages that fold open to reveal the rest of the rest of the story of how Digger Dog got the bone and what was really hidden under the dirt. The only thing is that kids who know the names of all the various digging machines might be sad that the real names for the shovels or bulldozers aren’t used. But the fun story will more than make up for that.

[Jennifer Heise · Rating 4 out of 5]

My six year old dog-and-truck loving boy enjoyed this greatly. It's pretty simple, with a repetitive text-- Digger dog loves to dig for bones, but as he's digging for this one, the ground is too hard and the bone is too deep-- so he gets progressively larger and larger diggers to help him. "Dig dig dig." Eventually, we fold out the page to find the biggest digger in the Whole World and he digs out the bone in question.. but, based on the underground shot in the picture, that may not be the biggest bone ever!

Engaging, short, easy to read with a child/children, with a few eyecatching secondary figures. Would be very good for an early reader who needs repetition, too.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Digger Dog uses his nose to locate a likely digging spot but since the “ground is too hard and the bone is too deep,” he keeps retrieving bigger digging tools until her recovers the world’s biggest bone. A double gatefold at the end of the book reveals that the big bone is only a small part of a larger dinosaur skeleton.
Diggers, dogs and dinosaurs combine for a storytime trifecta in this brightly illustrated read-aloud. The text refrain is easy to pick up making this a sure pick for storytimes.

[Josie B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

An unexpectedly fun ending with fold out pages entranced the 3 year olds at my outreach storytime this morning. I paired it wit Dig! By Andrea Zimmerman and Denise Fleming's Underground for a "digging in the dirt" storytime that covered everything from gardens to dinosaurs. It might also work with "I'm Dirty by Kate McMullen.

Update: I read it today first to 2 year olds then 3s. After I read it I used a dog puppet to sniff out a treasure chest that contained magnetic letters. We used the letters to complete the alphabet. The kids loved it.

[Marcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book since it was on the 2015 MO Building Block Award list. I thought the book was OK and I will read it aloud to my elementary students in the fall, but it was not my favorite book.

Digger Dog in the story is digging a hole and has to keep getting a larger machine to get to the bones. He finally find the largest bones in the world...dinosaur bones.

The pictures were very colorful and he has other friends in the story.

Overall, it will be a good addition to our library collection and the students will like reading it.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anyone who has spent much time with canines knows that dogs often love to dig. In this picture book, filled with fold-out pages and vibrant mixed media illustrations, Digger Dog is on a mission to find a particular bone. He uses everything he can, including large tools and vehicles to turn over the soil so that he finally reaches a very large bone. This is a funny, action-filled picture book sure to appeal to youngsters.

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 3-year-old son LOVED (with a capital "L") this book. It has the wonderful repetitive language that preschoolers love and has a great surprise at the end. We'll definitely be buying this book. My only complaint is that there's a few fold out pages and some of them fold out and up and over and under, so we ended up ripping a few accidentally. Otherwise a great, great read for any little one that loves trucks, diggers, and construction equipment.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book for my Toddler Dog Storytime and just adored it, though the story does get pretty repetitive, especially if you are reading it out loud. The kids loved the fold-out pages. Digger Dog loves to dig up bones but can't seem to dig this one up, so he gets progressively bigger diggers to help him. It would also be a good book for a Construction Storytime. Recommended for ages 2-6, 4 stars.

[Jeff Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This dog LOVES to dig, especially when it comes to digging up bones. But one day, he stumbles upon a bone that's buried really deep under really hard ground, so he has to get bigger and bigger digging machines to try to eventually unearth it! Will he find this treasured bone? And what ELSE might be lurking underneath the soil? I definitely got a kick out of the ending, which was a little predictable, but still clever, and I think the kids would find it to be funny and surprising, too!

[Ally Copper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Little children seem to love the variety of machinery used to dig in the dirt. They love to read about it and see pictures of it. 'Digger Dog' by William Bee introduces readers to an ever growing collection of "diggers" that Digger Dog needs to use to try to reach a giant bone buried in the ground. The simple, repetitive text makes this a great story for a read-aloud, and the fold-out pages will help the book have a big impact on little ones in the audience. Super for kids ages 2-6.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Digger Dog is crazy about bones. When his own 4 paws fail him, he uses bigger and bigger digging machines to reach the sweet bone he can smell far below. Fold out pages reveal a big surprise!

Fun read aloud that reminds me of a fairytale in its formatting. Mixed media illustrations are really creative; I LOVE the polka-dotted dirt piles! PreK-2.

[Kelsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Age: Infant-Preschool
Things That Go: Construction

I'm sure this will be a crowd pleaser but I'm disappointed that the author missed such a great opportunity for vocabulary. Every time Digger Dog cannot dig through the tough soil he gets a "bigger digger" and a "much bigger digger." It just feels like a missed opportunity.

[Margo Tanenbaum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Digger Dog loves to dig, especially for bones. When he gets the scent of something big, he needs bigger and bigger diggers to help him find what's buried. A repeated refrain is sure to engage preschoolers and toddlers and this book will make a great read-aloud, as it leads up to a surprise (and very funny) ending.