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19 and One Dalmatians-More Than a Number Book
A hit with first graders at The Potomac School in McLean, VA

Daisy 1, 2, 3 (Richard Jackson Books (Atheneum Hardcover))

Manufacturer: Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0689854579

Book Description

The twenty Dalmatians in Mrs. Tuttle's obedience class each know who they are -- and so does clever Mrs. Tuttle.

Her assistant, Doris, doesn't have a clue.

Do you?

Customer Reviews:

19 and One Dalmatians-More Than a Number Book.......2005-11-08

At first, this seemed like another fairly interesting but predictable counting book. Twenty Dalmatians, all amed "Daisy," receive obedience training from Mrs. Tuttle. Her assistant, Doris, wonders how Mrs. Tuttle can tell one spotted dog from another. The counting lesson begins in a fairly ordinary way: "Daisy 1 has one peculiar spot." We see a conventional, straight-on view of a dog with a footprint on her forehead. My first thought was that I would have to trudge through 19 more pages of familiar looking Dalmatians, each page introducing one more dog or one more item. Daisy #2 confirmed this expectation; she sports two nametags. The disappointment continued through Daisy's #3 and #4.

However, something changes with the appearance of the fifth Daisy. She speaks five animal language (*yawn*), but her body takes on the shapes of the animals she's impersonating. Like Alice down the Rabbit Hole, each new Daisy takes us on a wilder and more imaginative excursion through author/illustrator Peter Catalanotto's fertile, semi-surrealistic imagination. We see one "Daisy #6" with her adopted six parakeets, another Daisy wearing 7 swimming medals and flippers, a from-the-hood Daisy in shades and bandana with her 9 bulldogs hired as security dogs), Daisy #12 dressed as Cinderella, who, of course, must "be home by twelve, midnight," Daisy 13 who "works as a tour guide for thirteen hamsters" (!), the glamorous, languid, blue eyeshadowed Daisy 18 who shows off her 18 toenails, and Daisy 20 who fools twenty fleas with a Dalmatian puppet decoy (while she wears a paper bag over her head)!

It might be difficult to wrap up this canine version of "Beach Blanket Babylon," but Catalanotto draws an overhead picture showing all 20 eccentric dogs, each of them next to their corresponding number drawn on the studio floor.

"'Oh, I see, `says Doris. `Each dog has her place.'"
"'Yes,' says Mrs. Tuttle. `They all have their spots.'"

This is a wonderfully awful joke in a book unafraid to break the stodgy rules of counting books. Catalanotto enlivens the genre with this witty and wacky triumph, and his watercolor illustrations by Catalanotto (he's done 28 books so far) are equally imaginative. Recommended!

A hit with first graders at The Potomac School in McLean, VA.......2005-01-19

Six and seven year olds enjoyed this counting book meant for dog lovers. They appreciated the author's humor, including the surprise ending, and giggled at the illustrator's perfect canine portraits. Favorites among the Dalmatian depictions included the superdog, the hamster tour guide and the Cinderella lookalike. Student reviewers highly recommend this title for reading aloud to preschool through first grade listeners.

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