Astute readers will notice that something's up right from the get-go once they see that the original title of the book, My First Animal Book, has been crossed out by a scruffy crayon-wielding dog and retitled This Is a Dog. And indeed it is, as every double-page spread attempts to introduce a different animal species with the monotonous line "This is a..." only to have a cat, monkey, rabbit, squirrel, crocodile, giraffe, elephant, bear, and gorilla each upstaged by a dog. The story, after all, really is about the dog. When the other animals have finally had enough, they all chase the dog across the page, and the pictures tell the whole story while the text plods on with its "This is a..." description. A rollickingly fun tale draws its humor entirely from the visual depiction of the dog's antics and the other animals' reactions to them. (Ages 2-5)