And the reading challenge continues! As stated in a previous post, my librarian friend Ashley Lambacher of the Book Talker and I are hosting the Buckeye Book Award Reading Challenge. Our goal is to read all the past winners from the children’s book category in chronological order from 1982 to the present. I will read the K-2 picture book winners and Ashley will read the 4-8/3-5 chapter book winners. Because 1998 was skipped, today I continue my challenge by reading the winner of the K-2 Buckeye Book Award in 1997, Dogzilla by Dav Pilkey.
Dogzilla is a hilarious story featuring a giant Corgi. The enormous dog emerges from a volcano at the smell of barbecue in the city of Mousopolis - populated by mice, obviously. Dogzilla wants the barbecue and accidentally destroying Mousopolis in her wake. The leader of the desperate mice, the Big Cheese, hits on a plan to chase Dogzilla away by threatening her with a bath! Pilkey's humorous narrative is full of puns and goofy jokes to make both kids and adults laugh out loud. The unique illustration are a combination of bright paintings superimposed with photographs of Pilkey’s pet mice, cat, and dog. Fans of Dogzilla will also enjoy Pilkey’s Kat Kong and Dog Breath.
Ashley, your upcoming 1997 The Haunted Mask by R.L. Stine. Yikes – another scary tale!
Would you like to join Ashley and I as we read through Ohio’s award winning books? We welcome any and all who are interested in participating in this fun reading challenge. For more information, click here.
I'll always remember 2 picture books from my childhood as being completely ridiculous -- one being The Stinky Cheese Man, and the second being this one! I don't think the librarian could keep it on the shelves, and I was in the upper grades at the time! I didn't know anything about Dav Pilkey at the time though. This book was my first introduction to him!
ReplyDeleteThe little jokes in the story, and the funny illustrations, are what make this book special. I still haven't seen another book like this one (except Kat Kong, of course). I really wish there was an award for the writing of picture books so that the humor of books could be applauded.