Read, Read, Read, said the Baby: Dogs by Dr. John Hutton, illustrated by Doug Cenko

This quirky little book was an unexpected hit for me and I look forward to introducing it to my patrons, especially in baby storytime.

Each page in this little board book encourages dialogue about dogs. In bold, colorful panels, the dogs bark, lick, and run across the pages. One spread, showing the smiling yellow dog from the cover, asks "What color is this dog?" and answers "It's yellow. Yellow and furry. Let's say yellow, furry dog!" A dalmatian pops up in the corner to add "I have spots!"

I've seen a couple different board books that encourage dialogic reading with children, but this one does an excellent job of creating a book that babies and toddlers will love, pointing to dogs and parroting the words, while encouraging parents to dialogue with their children in a simple, non-patronizing way.

The back cover adds some simple early literacy tips from the author, a pediatrician. I'm definitely going to be looking up more "Dr. Books" to add to our collection and use in storytime. The only slight drawback with this title is the small format, about 4x4 inches. I'd love to throw this up large on a projector or slideshow to use with a group, as I don't have the funds to purchase multiple individual copies for each attendee. I'll have to suggest it to my colleague though, she sometimes has more funds.

Verdict: A great addition to your board book collections and, if you have the funds, would make a perfect bulk purchase for storytime.

ISBN: 9781936669457; Published 2017 by blue manatee press; Borrowed from another library in my consortium