My own synopsis of the whole story, in haiku?
Stray dog on the porch.
Mom and three kids fall for him,
Though he makes a mess.
Look at the inviting cover of a black-nosed, floppy-eared dog staring at you through the window of the storm door. Who wouldn't want to open the door and let such a winsome dog into their lives? Check out the endpapers, with little brown dogprints across the floor tiles. On the title page, you see the scraggly white mutt with wistful eyes trudging down the sidewalk. Then there's the first full-page painting, of Mom in her pink bathrobe, looking out through the kitchen door at the dog looking in:
"There on the back steps,
the eyes of a hungry dog.
Will she shut the door?"
Of course she won't. Mom feeds him and gives him a sudsy bath in the tub. The three kids, two boys and a girl are elated to discover a dog in the house. Dad has his hand to his head, looking bemused. The kids feed the eager pup scraps at the breakfast table:
"A dog needs a name.
Rags? Mutt? Pooch? No, not Rover.
Mooch. Yes, Mooch! Perfect."
The three kids race off to catch the school bus, leaving Mooch with Mom. Left to his own devices while Mom is in the garden, he chews the laundry, and rolls in the trash from the kitchen. When Dad gets home, there's a family meeting of "words and words and words"-"Did someone say 'pound?'" Will dad let Mooch stay? Of course.
THEMES: DOGS. FAMILY LIFE. HAIKU. POETRY.
My own synopsis of the whole story, in haiku?
Stray dog on the porch.
Mom and three kids fall for him,
Though he makes a mess.
Look at the inviting cover of a black-nosed, floppy-eared dog staring at you through the window of the storm door. Who wouldn't want to open the door and let such a winsome dog into their lives? Check out the endpapers, with little brown dogprints across the floor tiles. On the title page, you see the scraggly white mutt with wistful eyes trudging down the sidewalk. Then there's the first full-page painting, of Mom in her pink bathrobe, looking out through the kitchen door at the dog looking in:
"There on the back steps,
the eyes of a hungry dog.
Will she shut the door?"
Of course she won't. Mom feeds him and gives him a sudsy bath in the tub. The three kids, two boys and a girl are elated to discover a dog in the house. Dad has his hand to his head, looking bemused. The kids feed the eager pup scraps at the breakfast table:
"A dog needs a name.
Rags? Mutt? Pooch? No, not Rover.
Mooch. Yes, Mooch! Perfect."
The three kids race off to catch the school bus, leaving Mooch with Mom. Left to his own devices while Mom is in the garden, he chews the laundry, and rolls in the trash from the kitchen. When Dad gets home, there's a family meeting of "words and words and words"-"Did someone say 'pound?'" Will dad let Mooch stay? Of course.
Seventeen haiku, one per double page, take us from the pup's appearance on the back porch to his settling in for the long haul. Warning: Sweet and soulful full bleed oil paintings will make listeners demand a dog. Check out Clements' Author's Note where he talks about haiku and why he used them in this book. "A haiku is so simple-only 17 syllables, 5/7/5. And who can resist trying to write one?" And then he says, "Adorable dog + haiku = Dogku. Simple." As will be the haiku your kids write and illustrate about their own pets or pets-to-be.
Three classes of second graders at Van Holten School in Bridgewater, New Jersey, had a ball writing their own poems, inspired by a reading of this beguiling story. Teachers Lisa D'Ascensio, Becky Gara, and Helen Kyritsis were blown away by their responses, which they called Zooku. Each child picked a wild animal, wrote a haiku that incorporated one fact about the animal, and drew a picture to go with it. The results were spectacular.
THEMES: DOGS. FAMILY LIFE. HAIKU. POETRY.
