Bad Dog

Rating:
Summary: a pun-tastic childrens book about dogs
Review: Bad Dog puts the reader into the life of a daring dog. Using wonderful alliteration and playful puns this book helps readers to know what it is like for a dog get out of the boring, housebound lifestyle and randomly break into a chicken coop. This book helps you see that our "Bad Dog", Bad Dog being his name, is not trying to be malicious, but rather he is just bored and not properly cared for. Nina Laden's cute children's book follows a particular canine friend through a typical "bad" day. With this newfound freedom, Bad Dog is seeking adventure and some lunch. With this in mind, Bad Dog picks up his friend Butch the Bulldog in a stolen car with the mission to find a chicken coop. Nina Laden uses great alliteration during the chicken chase. She uses many words associated with chicken and egg foods as a way for Bad Dog to describe what he sees. The pictures depict walking chicken sandwiches, tenders, pies and casseroles... the whole reason Bad Dog is here in the first place. Butch and Bad Dog want lunch. Unfortunately for the dogs but fortunately for the chickens, the farmer apprehends the bandits before they do any damage. Butch fled the scene as many dogs would have, but Bad Dog took the car on a "wild chicken chase." The dogcatcher catches him and puts him in the clinker. While waiting to be picked up, Bad Dog finds a bucket of chicken in the next room. Bad Dog gets his chicken after all. He eats the policemen's lunch and called it paw licking' good! The book Bad Dog is a cute children's tale that is visually appealing because Laden uses vivid colors throughout. It is also easy to read along with. I do not see any awards in its future, although it could very easily become a favorite of bad dog lovers. Maybe Nina Laden would consider writing a Bad Dog. Overall, I really liked the concept although it drove home the point that all dogs should be attended to carefully.

Rating:
Summary: Not just for children
Review: Wow! what a funny book. The wordplay is subtle and hilarious. An excellent coffee table book for grown-ups and a fast paced tale for kids with lively illustrations and an ending that would make a nice thing to chat about with kids.