New Read Aloud - Dominic, by William Steig

I think I mentioned in a previous post that one of the authors we've been enjoying very much is William Steig. Steig was a prolific author, and one of my favorite illustrators as well. In fact, he wrote and illustrated one of my favorite picture books of all times, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. (It is only in recent years that I've successfully read this book aloud without blubbering at the end!) We've also read many of his others that we have in our school library, or that I have in my own collection, including Shrek!, Doctor De Soto, Brave Irene, The Amazing Bone, and others.

Today I started my favorite chapter book by Steig, called Dominic. Dominic is a restless dog who goes off on a great adventure and meets up with glorious characters, including the villainous doomsday gang (made up of various weasels, foxes, ferrets, and the like). There's plenty of action, humor, and magic. Best of all, though, there is glorious language - Steig is an author who does NOT talk down to children. It was hard to leave our book this afternoon, but we will eagerly join Dominic in his adventures tomorrow morning.