P.D. Eastman’s book, “Go Dog Go” is a book with fun illustrations with an easy to follow story that was my favorite book as a child. The illustrations are very detailed which keeps a child’s interest throughout the entire book. The easy to follow story is simple to memorize which helps the child to remember the book and feel like they are actually participating in the reading of the story. As a child, my mom would always allow me to pick a book to read before bedtime. I remember picking this book several nights a week for her to read to me. If you ask her she will tell you that it was almost every night of the week. I think the first thing that I loved about this book was that it had so many different looking dogs in it. I loved, and still do love, animals and I found it exciting and fun to read about the adventures that these dogs were going on. On almost every page there would be a different dog on a new adventure. I know that after my mom had read this book over and over to me I had it memorized. This was exciting to me as a young child. I used to think that I was actually reading the book right along with her when in all actuality, I had memorized the words in the book. The story was very east to catch on to and I used to recite the words over and over. I can remember asking if we could read it twice each night just so I could show off my good “reading” skills. My mom would usually smile and then let me show off those great “reading” skills of mine.
As I analyze this book as an adult, I think the first thing that it is trying to represent is that everyone is unique in their own special way. This is represented in the beginning of the book by the small and large dogs, black and white dogs, and continues on illustrating different colored dogs throughout the book. It shows the different dogs each doing something different which I feel easily holds a child’s attention. Another point that I think is evident when reading it as an adult is that life is a long journey. I think it represents this by the dogs being shown going somewhere, which we don’t find out where they are going until the end of the book. The roads they are traveling throughout the book represent our life and the different roads we sometimes have to travel throughout it. Making new friends is also represented in this book. We are shown this when the dogs greet each other throughout the book. One dog is always asking if the other like’s the other one’s hat. Even though the other dog indicates they do not like the other one’s hat, they continue to talk to one another during the story until the very end when the dog wearing the hat is able to find one that the other dog likes.
Lastly, I feel that the book is trying to tell us that we always need to have fun on our life’s journey. I feel the book represents this in the end by the big dog party they have in the tree. It tells us that we should take the time out of our busy lives and have some fun. If we do not spend time with our friends and have some fun with them our life will be dull and boring. Having good relationships brings happiness to one’s life.
In conclusion, I feel that “Go Dog Go” is one of the best children’s book there is. It is important for us to cherish our friends and to accept those that are different from us. This book easily represents both of those traits. I have read this book to my boys as well and I hope they will appreciate it as much as I did as a child.