Work, Dogs, Work: A Highway Tail

by James Horvath, James Horvath (Illustrator)

Overview

Beginning readers will love this I Can Read adventure starring a doggy construction crew! The text and art have been gently adapted from James Horvath’s picture book of the same title.

Top dog Duke and his busy crew of construction worker dogs have a big day ahead of them as they race to repair a road. With miles of new road to lay, the crew gets to work using equipment like bulldozers, steamrollers, and paving trucks. But what happens when a rocky hill blocks the way? Time to bring in the demolition crew!

Work, Dogs, Work is a Level One I Can Read book, which means it’s perfect for children learning to sound out words and sentences.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062357083
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	04/25/2017
Series:	I Can Read Book 1 Series
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	631,398
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.20(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

James Horvath has worked as a designer and illustrator for more than fifteen years. In 2002 he established Jamestoons Studios (with a workforce of one) so he could focus more on his illustration. When not scratching and scribbling at his drawing table, he plays with his two young sons and wife, bangs around on the banjo, surfs, and generally has a lot of fun. A lifelong devoted cartoon fan, James Horvath lives with his family on California’s central coast. You can visit him online at www.jamestoons.com.

James Horvath has worked as a designer and illustrator for more than fifteen years. In 2002 he established Jamestoons Studios (with a workforce of one) so he could focus more on his illustration. When not scratching and scribbling at his drawing table, he plays with his two young sons and wife, bangs around on the banjo, surfs, and generally has a lot of fun. A lifelong devoted cartoon fan, James Horvath lives with his family on California’s central coast. You can visit him online at www.jamestoons.com.

Editorial Reviews

Kids who get starry-eyed over trucks, earth-moving equipment, and construction sites should go gaga over this book, which has a pack of very capable canines scampering around and digging at a construction site.” — Booklist for DIG, DOGS, DIG

“With its punchy rhymes and Hanna-Barbera panoramas, DIG, DOGS, DIG hops along with the bouncy effervescence of P.D. Eastman’s Go Dog. Go!.” — New York Times Book Review for DIG, DOGS, DIG

“Fans of GOODNIGHT, GOODNIGHT, CONSTRUCTION SITE will eagerly dig into illustrator/designer Horvath’s vehicle-centric debut, first in a planned series.” — Publishers Weekly for DIG, DOGS, DIG

“A dozen dogs and one black cat work hard to build a playground in this amusing story that will please kids who love excavators, cranes and dump trucks… The entire construction process is conveyed in an energetic manner that is both entertaining and educational.” — Kirkus Reviews for DIG, DOGS, DIG

“Youngsters who can’t get enough books with pictures of heavy equipment will be attracted to this one.” — School Library Journal review for BUILD, DOGS, BUILD

From the Publisher

Kids who get starry-eyed over trucks, earth-moving equipment, and construction sites should go gaga over this book, which has a pack of very capable canines scampering around and digging at a construction site.

Booklist for DIG

With its punchy rhymes and Hanna-Barbera panoramas, DIG, DOGS, DIG hops along with the bouncy effervescence of P.D. Eastman’s Go Dog. Go!.

New York Times Book Review for DIG

08/01/2014
PreS-Gr 2—Horvath's industrious dogs are back on the job in this third book featuring Duke and his crew. This time, the boys have a highway to build, and, with the same perfect balance of humor and information characteristic of Build, Dogs, Build (2014) and Dig, Dogs, Dig (2013, both HarperCollins), the author escorts readers through the process of constructing a road. The narrative verse, in four-line rhyming stanzas, never falters, regardless of the equipment needed or task at hand, making for a satisfying read-aloud that is also accessible to beginning readers. The full-page digital illustrations are perfectly suited to the audience, with bold colors, a cartoon flair, and just enough detail to invite children to linger. Feline fans will appreciate the cameo appearance of Jinx on every spread, and the dogs look like they're having so much fun, adults may wonder what's in their coffee. Construction junkies and Horvath fans alike will welcome this book in their libraries, while those new to the series will surely seek out the other titles.—Lynn Van Auken, Oak Bluffs School, Oak Bluffs, MA

School Library Journal

2014-06-18
A crew comprising cheerful, cartoon-style canines and one cleverly camouflaged cat continues their construction careers in this third entry in an engaging series, following Dig, Dogs, Dig and Build, Dogs, Build (both 2013).This time, the diligent dogs are working on a highway, both resurfacing a road and creating a new section of highway by blasting through a mountain with explosives. The newly built highway segment ends next to a river, so the dogs magically conjure up the design and materials needed for a new, four-lane bridge. There's a gap in logic here that cuts out the role of the civil engineer and ignores the necessity of planning a major project of any sort in the real world, but these canine construction workers are so determined and doggone cheerful that their logical lapse must be overlooked. As in the previous volumes, construction vocabulary and geological terms are emphasized in the rhyming text, with a punchy quatrain on each page. Bold, computer-generated illustrations are filled with trucks, machinery, dogs in motion, and lots of gooey substances like asphalt and "mile after mile of / axle-deep muck."Big trucks, jovial dogs and snappy rhyming text serve again as the building blocks of another successful entry in this solidly built series. (Picture book. 3-8)

Kirkus Reviews