Dogs Don’t Wear Sneakers

No, this book does not foster the development of processes. This book hardly touches on science at all. The book goes through and talks about all the things that animals can't do, but the last page poses a question to the students, "But tell me what you see? It's your dream- not mine!" To me, this suggests to the students that they can assume that the animals could do all those human actions if they wanted to believe that.

Author: Laura Numeroff
Illustrator: Joe Mathieu
Year Published: 1993

Minimum Suggested Grade Level

Prekindergarten

Maximum Suggested Grade Level

2nd Grade

Summary

In a child's imagination, animals do wacky things, including ducks riding bikes, yaks skiing, and fish eating bagels. The unlikely combinations in Laura Numeroff's cheerful rhymes and Joe Mathieu's bright, zany pictures will make you laugh out loud

Evaluation

Appropriateness: High
Authority: Low
Accuracy: Low
Liteary Artistry: Medium
Appearance: Medium

Questions

Does the book foster development of processes?

Does the book provide an opportunity for children to ask and answer their own questions?

This book does not provide opportunities for students to pose their own questions. However, it invites children to believe whatever they want to believe. That is interesting to me.

Does the book encourage children to think for themselves?

This book sort of encourages students to think for themselves. More so, it encourages them to make their own predictions and assumptions about the world that they interact in.

Is the science topic addressed in ways that are appropriate to the lesson?

There is not really a science topic addressed in this book. I'm not sure if that was needed for this assignment, but I found this book and saw that it didn't portray scientific concepts or principles accurately. It depicts animals acting in ways that humans act.

Is the content based on sound scientific principles? Is it accurate?

No, the content is not based on scientific principles. There are false demonstrations of animal behavior in both the text and the illustrations. Lastly, the book suggests that students can believe what they want about the action of animals.

Does the book distinguish between fact and fiction?

The book does not really do a good job of distinguishing between fact in fiction. However, I think that may have been the point. The book talks about what may or may not be happening, and then asks the reader to make their own prediction.

Are the illustrations clear and accurate?

The illustrations are clear, but not accurate. It depicts the animals acting in a human way. All of the illustrations are scientifically incorrect.

Is the book written at the level of your students?

This book is written for a level below my students. This book could be read by a beginning reader. This is a story that my Kindergarten teacher may have read to the class and perhaps provoking a conversation about whether or not animals can do all the same things that humans can. Older grades should already know this.

Is there a multicultural component? Is it free from stereotyping?

There is no multicultural component. There are no humans or cultural aspects involved in this story, only animals. There is also no stereotyping involved.

Is the book free from gender bias?

The only characters in this story are animals. The animals are all shown to be both feminine and masculine, so there seems to be no gender bias.

Does the book show the close association between science and other disciplines?

There is no academic discipline in this story at all! It is simply just a children's book with inaccurate portrayals of animals and their characteristics.

Does the book present a positive attitude toward science and technology?

There is not a positive attitude towards science nor technology. Neither is present in this story. However, the scientific conclusions that a student may make from this book may be incorrect due to the inaccurate portrayal of the animals.