Dog Loves Books

It’s a little discouraging when Dog’s new bookstore doesn’t attract any customers, but Dog isn’t fazed; he pulls books off the shelves and loses himself in reading. “When he read, he forgot that he was alone.” Reading prepares him for bookselling, too; when a girl shows up looking for books, “Dog knew exactly which ones to recommend.” Yates’ (A Small Surprise) pale, candy-colored watercolors are the real attraction of this otherwise wispy story. Delicate pinks and purples encircle the insouciant Dog as he reads book after book, his inquisitive ears on the alert, surrounded by the creatures he reads about: dinosaurs, kangaroos, benevolent aliens in flying saucers. Yates conveys Dog’s immersion in fantasy by picturing him hovering in front of a bookshelf in a small pink spaceship of his own when the girl, his first real customer, arrives. Dog’s enthusiasm for reading and books can feel a bit heavy-handed (“He loved the smell of them, and he loved the feel of them. He loved everything about them...”), but he’s a charmer. Ages 4–8. (July)