If You Were a Dog (FSG, 2014) is crafted with active language that a creative child with a lively imagination will absolutely love. Illustrator Chris Raschka’s simplistic watercolors, comprised of pastel curves and lines, connect perfectly with the buoyant innocence of author Jamie Swenson’s energetic text. If You Were a Dog is fantastically suited for interactive read-alouds – the kind where kids are encouraged to crawl about the floor, giving their best HISSSSSSSS, CRIK! CRIK! CRIK!, or CHOMP, CHOMP, ROAR!

What about you?

If you were a dog, would you be a speedy-quick, lickety-sloppidy, scavenge-the-garbage, frisbee-catching, hot-dog-stealing, pillow-hogging, best-friend-ever sort of a dog?

Would you howl at the moon?

ARRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Some dogs do.