animals

There’s something about autumn that makes me feel like hanging out at the library. With the onset of the school year I’m feeling scholarly even if that means I spend most of my time with my 3 year old daughter in the children’s section.

And so in between looking for new Olivia books as well as classic Dr. Seuss we were lucky to find our way to haiku.

Dog-ku is a beautiful picture book about a stray dog written entirely in 5-7-5 haiku.

The dog, Mooch, needs a home, or as it says on the inside cover:

A tale in haiku

of one adorable dog.

Let’s find him a home.

One day, Mooch wanders up to a family’s back door. On a whim, the mother lets him in, almost as though she is trying him on for size.

The colorful illustrations show Mooch enjoying several serene moments in his new life. One one page, Mooch takes a nap in the sun while lying on the back stoop. On another, he gets to go for a ride in the car and stick his head out the window.

Nose out the window,

ears flapping, hair pushed straight back.

Adventures in smell.

But it’s not all puppy kisses. Mooch has more than a few bad-dog moments. He tears up the garbage. He chews on some socks. Will his antics get him kicked out or will he get to stay in this warm house with these nice people?

You’ll have to read the book to find out, but I shall say that this book of 5-7-5 puppy capers certainly resonated with Penelope who would often shout out during the story “That’s like Yuki!”.

The writer, well-known children’s author Andrew Clements, says in the book’s end notes that he thought a picture book would be the perfect medium for haiku. A haiku, he writes, is like a small vase, and so is a picture book. In both formats, the writer has very limited space to tell a story and must make sure every word counts.

Now, I can only hope he writes a picture book in haiku about a cat.

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