Title: Downward Dog: Very Serious Haiku from a Very Serious Dog
Authors: Samm Hodges and Phinehas Hodges
Artist: Idil Gozde
Genre: Animal / Pets / Humor
Year Published: 2017
Year Read: 2017
Publisher: Animal Media Group
Source: eARC (NetGalley)
Content Rating: Ages 10+ (Some Suggestive Humor)
Buy on: Amazon // Book Depository
I
would like to thank NetGalley and Animal Media Group for
providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I will be honest here: I did not know that there was going to be a
TV series for ABC called “Downward Dog”
since I barely heard any promos for the show.
However, when NetGalley offered me a chance to check out the book that
is going to spawn into a TV series called “Downward
Dog: Very Serious Haiku from a Very Serious Dog” which is written by Samm Hodges and Phinehas Hodges along
with artwork by Idil Gozde, I just knew that I had to check this book out and I must admit that
this book has got me interested!
The story is about a dog named
Martin, who ends up being left at home by his human owner, Nan and during that
time, Martin has decided to write a haiku about his life as a dog and you will
be quite interested to hear what he has to say about his life!
I must admit that I found this
book to be pretty creative and cute at the same time! I liked the way that both Samm Hodges and Phinehas Hodges wrote
this story as it is styled in a haiku type of poetry and we get to see how
Martin the dog views his life while relating his story and his relationship
with his human owner Nan, to the audience in poetic form. I also liked the way that Samm Hodges and Phinehas Hodges
incorporated some humor in this story, with my favorite moments being of Martin
looking at Big Bird from “Sesame Street” on TV and commenting on it and Martin
mentioning about how he would fart in bed with his owner. Idil
Gozde’s artwork is both simplistic yet humorous at the same time as the
artwork looks like children’s drawings, which would make sense since Martin the
dog is supposedly the one who is writing this book; the artwork would often
downplay the introspective nature of Martin, but does it in a humorous way!
The reason why I gave this book a
four-star rating was because while I thought it was creative for the story to
be told in a poetic narrative, it was a bit hard to understand exactly what
Martin is saying throughout the book. Since the book is written in a way where
various sentences are shortened in order to fit in with the structure of a
haiku, I found some of Martin’s thoughts to be a bit incomplete and therefore,
it was hard for me to see where Martin was going with his inner thoughts on his
life.
Overall, “Downward Dog: Very Serious Haiku from a Very Serious Dog” is a
truly cute book for anyone who loves reading about dogs and who loves reading
haikus!
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