Eastman classics

P.D. Eastman's classics, Go, Dog. Go! and Are You My Mother? have been staples at our house for a long time. Both have exquisite appeal for the preschool set and both have the perfect repetition that make them excellent beginning reader books. Of course, Finn is thrilled with any book containing cars, so Go, Dog. Go! was a favorite of his from the first time he saw the cover. I also remember Go, Dog. Go! being the first reading book longer than 6-8 pages that both Elizabeth and Philip read.

You can see some of the influences of Dr. Seuss's work in P.D. Eastman's illustrations. As an understudy to Dr. Seuss, P.D. Eastman's first books, including these, were released under Seuss's Beginner Books label.

Finn and Elizabeth both crack up when the little birdie starts calling the backhoe a "snort".

Dogs in cars...going away fast! One of Finn's favorite pages in Go, Dog. Go! Who wouldn't love the line-up of colorful dogs in fast cars?!

My own personal favorite: the hat doggy in the crazy party hat.

I can remember both of these books from my childhood, but especially Are You My Mother? I can remember the tension of the "snort" lifting the baby bird so far off the ground and wondering how the baby bird knew he even had a mother when he'd never met her. Now I know the answer to that wondering.