Dogography : the amazing world of letter art dogs by Maree Coote

cover image

Melbournestyle Books, 2020. ISBN: 9780648568414.
(Age: 5+) Highly recommended. Drawings of every kind of dog imaginable made from letters, upended or sideways, right side up or back to front, will intrigue and amuse younger readers, as they seek out how the letters are used to create each animal. The front cover invites the reader to further explore the delights of the pages inside as it shows a dog's face; ears made from the letter A, eyes from U, nose from a K, a J making its jaw line and the letter L its collar with an E for the buckle.
Some readers will work out what sort of dog is pictured, using the letters shown, and see that the whole book is made up this way: each dog's name is writ large using the fonts also used in the image, encouraging readers not only to check out spelling and letters but also fonts.
What person could resist working out how each letter is used, or searching for all the letters on each face, playing a game with friends to make one up themselves, or having a competition to find out how many letters are used for one face. Ideas flow looking at each page, endless possibilities crowd in, as each page prompts a laugh and a chuckle. The images created reveal each dog's characteristics encouraging further interest and discussion. And on each page too, is a pair of rhyming lines introducing the animal, making sure that the readers predict what the rhyming word will be.
Kids will have a great time with this funny book which lures the reader into using their imaginations to work out how the animal is drawn and how the letters are used. Kids will want to try it out for themselves, so have plenty of dog books on hand for them to try out the technique. While having fun, the book promotes the skills of spelling, letter and word recognition, design and art appreciation and a heightening of the imagination. Subtitled, The Amazing World of Letter Art Dogs, no one will be able to resist picking it up from the display shelf.
Maree Coote is an award winning designer/author/illustrator who runs Melbournestyle Gallery in South Melbourne, is a founder of Melbournestyle Books, and promotes Melbourne in much of her work.
Themes: Dogs, Letters, Animals, Humour, Imagination, Graphic design, Alphabet art.
Fran Knight

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