Doggie Dreams

Forced whimsy permeates the Chapmans' one-joke picture-book debut, which insists that ""some dogs dream as people do--/ Hard to believe, and yet it's true!"" The singsong text, offered in rhymed couplets, announces each dreamer's dearest wish. One spotted hound carries a shovel and wears a yellow hard hat: ""Here's a dog with a wonderful goal/ She dreams of digging the largest hole!"" Almost gaudily colorful oil paintings depict canine characters who enact fantasies of piloting a plane, walking on Mars and as a reporter ""reading the news on the Morning Edition."" High-voltage shades of purple, blue and fuchsia are used for the anthropomorphic pups, who have disconcertingly human eyes and smiles, and who live in a tropical paradise of palm trees and rolling hills (a ""Hollywoof"" sign appears in one reverie). There's no plot here, and not much of a point: ""So now you know/ that when dogs dream/ It's not always/ what it may seem."" All ages. (May)