Review by Booklist Review
Ages 2^-5. This color and counting book stars a big, scruffy looking dog with one black spot on his left ear. As the day goes by, more spots accumulate on Dog's coat--a splat of red jam dropped from the breakfast table ("Now Dog has two spots"), a grass stain, a chocolate pat from a boy, yellow pollen from a bee, and more, until Dog has 10 spots in all. Dodd's heavily outlined drawings with digitally applied color give this counting book a bold look, and the great sound words (splat! splurt!, etc.) ensure this will be used for reading aloud. A book that will make learning colors and counting fun, this will also appeal to children's love of making a mess. --Connie Fletcher
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The hero of this pleasant concept book is a plump sausage of a canine: "As you can see, Dog is white with one black spot on his left ear." But by the end of the day, he has turned into a veritable canvas of 10 colorful spots, nine of which have nothing to do with genetics. "Dog follows a little boy with chocolate," writes Dodd (What Does It Look Like?), after Dog has accumulated three other spots of, respectively, red jam, blue paint and grass stain. "The boy gives Dog a chocolaty patÄbut no chocolate. Now Dog has five spots." After a recap of all the pooch's spots, and a bath by Dog's owner (who accidentally added the 10th spot of purple marker), Dog returns to his natural look, with that one original spot, cuddled contentedly in his basket and dreaming of multicolored bones. Dog's zaftig physique and wide-eyed good humor are doggone charming, while the combinations of thick, scraggly black outlines and dense swathes of digitally applied candy-color make every encounter with a new spot pop off the page. Ages 2-5. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-This book pulls together colors, counting, sounds, and the simple adventures of a lovable pup. Dog, who is white with one black spot on his ear, spends the day from breakfast to bedtime getting into mischief and into a variety of cumulative messes. Red jam gives him two additional spots; blue paint, three; green grass, four; and so on, until he is covered with 10 spots of various colors, each of which makes a unique sound as it hits his coat: "swish," "splosh," "splurt." When he is given a bath at last, he is clean and single-spotted, and he crawls into bed to dream of colorful bones. Dodd's full-page cartoon illustrations with computer-assisted hues are vibrant, snappy, and exciting. Placement of text, sound words, and goofy Dog himself on each page is humorous and satisfying. A multifaceted concept book and a charming story to boot.-Beth Tegart, Oneida City Schools, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Dog is white with one black spot--but by the end of a busy, messy day, he is covered with ten spots of all different colors: a blue blob of paint, a green stain of grass, and so on. Dodd's tale is a simple but effective combination of concepts that work: humor, predictability, a winsome main character, and a few silly words to shout out loud. The bright, bold, computer-colorized illustrations will appeal to toddlers. From HORN BOOK Fall 2001, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A poochs pure white coat becomes a magnet for spills of all sorts in this foray into counting and colors. Dog begins his day in pristine condition, his sole adornment a lone black spot on his ear. However, a dollop of red jam at breakfast, a drip of blue paint, and hes soon on his way to becoming a Technicolor canine. Readers follow the carefree pup as each new adventure garners another colored spot on his once spotless coat. Dog follows a little boy eating chocolate. Squish! The boy gives Dog a chocolaty patbut no chocolate. Now Dog has five spots. Every additional stain is duly tallied until Dog returns home, decorated in ten bright spots, where a quick soak in the tub restores him to his former glory. Dodd cleverly incorporates the introduction of colors and numbers into a rambunctious, fun-to-read tale. A wrap-up at the end, reinforces the color recognition just before the bath. Youngest listeners, notorious themselves for acquiring sundry spots and stains during the course of a day, will find a kindred spirit in Dog and commiserate. The intensely colored illustrations form a vibrant canvas for the text, with a digital application of the colors creating a uniformity of hue that saturates the pages. The simply rendered, large-size figures in the illustrations are just right for preschool audiences. Messy or not, the amiable Dog is one pooch any child would want to take home. Easy and effective. (Picture book. 2-5)
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
