Doggy Slippers

by Jorge Luján, Isol (Illustrator), Elisa Amado (Translator)

Overview

When award-winning poet Jorge Lujan wrote to children all over Latin America asking them about their pets, he received many funny, interesting and touching replies. The children described all kinds of pets — not only dogs, cats and rabbits, but turtles, parakeets and even a marmot. They wrote about what their pets looked like, the amusing things that they did, what they were like when they first got them and why they loved them so much.

Inspired by these letters, Jorge shaped the children's thoughts and feelings into this wonderful book — a perfect first collection of poems for young readers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780888999832
Publisher:	Groundwood Books
Publication date:	08/01/2010
Edition description:	Translatio
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.10(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	AD600L (what's this?)
Age Range:	2 - 5 Years

About the Author

JORGE LUJÁN is an author, poet and musician. His body of work, translated into eighteen languages, includes Stephen and the Beetle, illustrated by Chiara Carrer; Doggy Slippers and Numeralia, illustrated by Isol; Colors! ¡Colores!, illustrated by Piet Grobler; and Moví la mano / I Moved My Hand, illustrated by Mandana Sadat. He has won the Premio de Poesía para Niños de ALIJA, and has been nominated for the 2024 Hans Christian Andersen Award and nominated eight times for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. He lives in Mexico.

Isol is an award-winning author and illustrator, who has been honored with the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for her outstanding contribution to children’s literature. She is renowned for creating picture books, which, as noted in the citation from the ALMA jury, are created “from the eye level of the child.” She lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Visit Isol's website:
http://www.isol-isol.com.ar/

Visit Isol's blog:
http://www.isol-isol.com.ar/

ELISA AMADO is a Guatemalan-born author and translator. She has written My Friend (Mi amiga), illustrated by Alfonso Ruano; Un Barrilete para el Día de los Muertos / Barrilete: A Kite for the Day of the Dead; Cousins (Primas), illustrated by Luis Garay; and Tricycle (El triciclo), illustrated by Alfonso Ruano, which is on the Américas Award Commended List and is a USBBY Outstanding International Book. She lives in Toronto.

Editorial Reviews

Luján (Brunhilda and the Ring) and Isol (Petit, the Monster) invited a group of Latin-American children to take part in a poetic "cook-up" in "a kind of poetic kitchen," explains Luján in an afterword, and this appealing collection of poems about pets is the result. Some are funny ("My turtle, Coco,/ is happy,/ is green,/ is slow,/ except when she falls/ down the stairs"), while others are tart ("My monkey and I are exactly alike,/ except for our hands and feet.../ and that I don't stink"). All are given depth and flavor by Isol's sly, sophisticated spreads, which pair frenetic scribbles with similarly energetic washes of color. It's Isol who conveys the humor in the title poem: "Littlekins is black, brown, and yellow./ When he came he was so small/ he fit into my doggy slippers." Littlekin's plump back end sticks out of a green slipper, whose huge blank eyes and frozen grin turn the puppy into an unexpected mutant. Pets bring out all their owners' powers of observation, it seems--as well as their love. Ages 2-5. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

There's a lot to discuss with every poem here, a perfect mine of possibilities for family enjoyment as well as engaging classroom projects. Highly recommended.

Toronto Star - Deirdre Baker

The poems are amusing, touching and filled with the joy of life which can only be expressed through the exuberant words of young children with a story to tell...Highly recommended.

CM Magazine - Myra Junyk

Using suggestions from kids in Mexico and Argentina, Luján crafts this refreshing collection of 12 free-verse poems about children's pets. Featured pets range from dog, cat, parakeet, bunny, hamster and turtle to the more exotic monkey and marmot. There's a boy and his monkey who look alike, a sympathetic bunny who knows if her owner's sad, a dog who pops soap bubbles with her tail, a growling marmot who doesn't like poetry, a kitty who makes life "better / when things go wrong," and Littlekins, the dog who's "so big / that he doesn't even fit into his name." Abstract, whimsical illustrations in a retro palette of brown, gold, olive and aqua rely on squiggly pencil outlines to economically define details and highlight sublime and ridiculous aspects from each poem. In expressive close-ups and zany action scenes, monkey ambles down a street, cross-eyed bunny munches a carrot, tiny hamster rubs noses with a girl, parakeet surveys from his urban window and turtle bounces off the page. Poetic pet snapshots packaged with panache and translated with aplomb. (Picture book/poetry. 2-5)

Kirkus Reviews