This book just ate my dog! by Richard Byrne

Bella was taking her dog for a walk across the page, such a simple thing to do, but the book has other ideas.  Bella makes it across the page with no problems, but halfway across the page her dog starts to disappear!  When Bella looks again her dog has completely disappeared - as does anyone who tries to help.  Soon there is nothing else for it and Bella has to go to the rescue herself - with hilarious results.

Picture books that truly encourage audience participation are not that common, and a book that truly engages the reader and makes them suspend belief is a rare gem indeed!  This book just ate my dog! is one of the best books I have found for engaging readers in the story, I had colleagues and two classes of children engaged from start to finish (and I don't think it is just because I have had a lot of practice reading to audiences either).

There are pauses in all the right places, there are unexpected surprises, and there is even a quirky twist at the end that made all the children laugh out loud - and most of the adults too.  This book works really well one-on-one but worked equally as well with a group of more than 30 children - and the children were aged from four-year-olds up to ten-year-olds so it suited a wide range of ages.

If you like this book then try:

• If I had a raptor by George O'Connor
• Barnaby Bennett by Hannah Rainforth; illustrated by Ali Teo
• Don't push the button! by Bill Cotter
• Elephants cannot dance! by Mo Willems
• Blue chicken by Deborah Freedman
• New socks by Bob Shea
• Wait! No paint! by Bruce Whately
• Giggle, giggle, quack by Doreen Cronin; illustrated by Betsy Lewin
• Press here by Hervé Tullet
• Cushie Butterfield (she's a little cow) by Colin McNaughton
• If you give a mouse a cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff; illustrated by Felicia Bond
• The monster at the end of this book by Jon Stone
• Shout! Shout it out! by Denise Fleming

Reviewed by Brilla