If My Dad Were a Dog by Annabel Tellis (2007)

 Having a dog is cool enough, but imagine it is your Dad, just for one day. Think of all the things you could tell him to do! The imaginative narrator takes it a step further than just playing fetch; her dad would swing, dance like a butterfly queen, and win a dog show.  He does some not so great things, too, like daddy doos and escaping for four hours.

There is a great opportunity to share a letter knowledge message before you even start reading the book. The “o” in “dog” in the title is replaced by a dog’s head.

If My Dad Were a Dog is packed with opportunities to promote print awareness .  Coffee cups and dog collars are labeled “dad “, as is the dad dog’s trophy.  Dad dog is pretty noisy, barking his way through many pages and it’s fun to ask children to bark along with you. I put my finger next to each woof so we can bark in unison, quietly for the small woofs and as loud as we can for the big ones.  It’s also fun to see how long it takes the kids to notice that the book being the narrator and her dad are reading on the last page is If My Dad Were a Dog.

-Juliet Morefield