Derek's Dog Days - Hardcover

Charlton, Nancy Lee

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0152232192 ISBN 13: 9780152232191

Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers, 1996

Synopsis

Derek likes chasing the cat and gnawing on slippers. He likes burying his brother’s toys and shaking himself dry after his bath. Derek wants to be a dog forever. But when school starts, Derek discovers that little boy activities can be fun, too. “Whimsical watercolor cartoons, funny and bright, adorn this doggie-romp. Silly fun.”--School Library Journal

About this title

About the Author:

Chris Demarest has been writing and illustrating children’s books for three decades. His Firefighters A to Z was chosen as a NY Times Best Book in 2000.  He is an official artist of the U.S. Coast Guard, traveling as far as the Persian Gulf to document their work. Now, travelling with his art exhibition "WWII Journey," life is the open road.
 

From Publishers Weekly:

Derek's kind of dog days are not about the summer heat. Instead, Derek wants to become canine: "He liked to shake himself after his bath. At bedtime Derek liked to roll over and play dead." But when he finally starts school, Derek decides that being human isn't all bad, even though he still "paint[s] giant puppy pictures" and occasionally growls at the justifiably nervous family cat. In this sort of story, there's usually a magical transformation from boy to dog and back again, but debut author Charlton takes the realistic approach; dogdom is all in Derek's mind. Demarest does include a thought-bubble in which Derek imagines himself four-footed and furry, but otherwise paints Derek as an energetic, curly-headed kid who would presumably wag his tail if he had one. He brings out the beast in Derek through jaunty watercolors, freewheeling enough to suggest constant motion but considerably more controlled than those in Casey in the Bath (reviewed above). Derek's flights of fancy come to naught, but his mischievous personality pervades the story and images. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0152232192
• ISBN 13: 9780152232191
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Demarest Chris