The First Dog - Hardcover

Brett, Jan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0152276505 ISBN 13: 9780152276508

Publisher: Harcourt Childrens Books, 1988

Synopsis

Kip the Cave Boy offers to share all his woolly rhino ribs if Paleowolf will use his keen nose, fine ears, and sharp eyes to keep Kip from being eaten up. When Paleowolf agrees with a bark and a wag of his tail, Kip names his new friend Dog.

About this title

About the Author

With more than thirty million books in print, Jan Brett is one of the nation’s foremost author/illustrators of children’s books. Jan lives in a seacoast town in Massachusetts, close to where she grew up. During the summer her family moves to a home in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts.

Reviews

PreSchool-Grade 1 A simple, imaginative tale of how the first domestication of a wild animal may have occurred. Kip, a cave boy living at the end of the Ice Age, is followed on his journey home by a Paleowolf, who, smelling the boy's roasted Woolly Rhino bones, begs for a treat. Each time the boy stops to rest and eat, the wolf hound senses danger and flees, saving the boy's life, too. After Paleowolf warns him of a fearsome Saber-Toothed Cat, the boy makes a deal with himhe will exchange some of his food for the animal's protective senses. The book's glorious watercolor illustrations will attract young prehistory enthusiasts, for amidst the melting ice floes roam the mighty Mammoth, the Wild Horse, the Woolly Rhino and other denizens of the Pleistocene period. Each scene appears on a ``canvas'' stretched across two pages. Borders show wood and stone carvings, cave paintings, and artifacts. Side panels on several illustrations show the dangers that Kip avoids by heeding Paleowolf's warnings. This is another of Brett's lavish offerings, intricately designed and filled with eye-catching detail. However, it is a fabricated story told with authority, featuring a modern-looking boy amidst authentic-looking animals and scenery. Children familiar with the ever-growing body of factual material on this period may accept it as the truth, despite its accompanying notes. Susan Scheps, Shaker Heights Public Library, Ohio
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Brett, author/illustrator of such favorites as Annie and the Wild Animals , has turned to prehistoric territory for her newest book. Kip the cave boy is on his way home with only a bag of Woollystet upper case, in book Rhino bones and his wits to protect him from the dangerous beasts of Ice Age Europe. At his first rest-stop a Paleowolf appears, to beg for food. Kip gives the wolf nothing and teases him, but each time Kip stops to eat, one of the wolf's keen senseshearing, smell, eyesightsaves him from an approaching animal, including the much-feared Saber-Toothed Cat. When both are safe but hungry, Kip makes a promise to Wolf: he will supply food, if Wolf will supply protectionand Wolf wags his tail to become the first dog. With folksy cadences and repetitions, this seems written to be read aloud. The illustrations are bright, with vivid details that richly evoke the possible landscapes of a prehistoric era; this is an appealing story of the way things might have been. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Harcourt Childrens Books
• Publication date: 1988
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0152276505
• ISBN 13: 9780152276508
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 34