I have read this book 736,297,148,453 times, or possibly 736,297,148,454; I lost count one night.
Sleeping with my then-young granddaughter one night, or rather NOT sleeping, she said to me: “Now it is night. Night is not a time to sleep. It is a time to play.”
I have been thinking and thinking about why this book is so weirdly compelling to my kid, what the deal is with the plot, why to me it feels like a fever dream (and makes more sense when I’m a little bit stoned) written by an off-brand Dr. Seuss—and once more Danny has articulated it all better than I ever could. Bravo.
My dad loved that part of the book when he read it to us. He'd read the dogs' conversation in different silly voices. If someone asked his opinion on something, he'd respond (also in a silly voice), "Do you like my hat?" Thanks for bringing back that memory.
I LOVE Go, Dog, Go. I think about that dog party more than many other picture book moments.
An exegesis on Go, Dog, Go is the gift I didn’t know my life was missing!! 🤩
Reading your writing makes me think of words like “exegesis” and also inspires me to check the dictionary to make sure I’m using the words correctly. 😍
"Look on us well; we are indeed, we are/Beatrice" -- could the Purgatorio possibly have inspired the 1980s TV commercials with the tagline "We're Beatrice"??
When I read this to my son, I use Danny's Joan Didion/Anna Wintour voice for the pink dog/yellow dog hat interaction, because that is obviously what these dogs sound like.
The 246 time I read Green Eggs and Ham aloud to my twins I realized that it was about grace. Do you think Sam I Am and these two dogs wound up at the same party?
I am verklempt reading this, surprised at my level of emotion, but thank you for writing this and exposing that yes, in fact, this WAS maybe the first love story I read as a child!!
"she has not been sitting around in front of a mirror, waiting for his approval, she has gone skiing around the world!" - my paraphrase, but SO GOOD!!
"I do not like your hat but I must have something of it to remember you by" might be one of the most romantic lines I've ever read and you're so correct for having summed up what's being said here.
thank you for rescuing this delightful subplot from the flattening "it's bad" analysis, highlighting the nuances of both honesty and affection at play. I am touched again as you point out their endings, joined, with no shadow of parting, never through a mirror darkly but at last face to face 🥹💜
I absolutely love Go Dog Go because I love "three dogs at a party on a boat at night" more than I love basically any page in any book in the history of literature.
BUT, I always read the Hat Dogs as two male dog voices when I was reading to my kids. I loved the flirtation of this pink little twink trying to get the big yellow dog's attention with increasingly flamboyant hats. And the yellow dog trying to act like he wasn't intrigued but clearly he was picking up what Pinky was putting down the whole time. I thought it was just sexier that way and lord knows you sometimes just need a little mental slash fanfiction in your bedtime reading.
My siblings, 10 and 12 years younger than me, favored the one about snow, and we can all still quote it 50 years later.
The game we played, growing up in Alaska, was that one person would say:
"I want to know if you like snow.
Do you like it? Yes or no?"
and the other was then obliged to go on: "Oh yes, oh yes, I do like snow!"
"Do you like it in your face?"
"Oh yes, I like it everyplace!"
Which invariably led to the first speaker hitting you in the face with a snowball, which actually we didn't like, but once you got on the dialog train you somehow couldn't get off again.
Awesome analysis! I'll admit as a tot who memorized this book - fooling my parents into thinking I could read by age 3 - diving into the WHY of those encounters never crossed my mind. Yes, the fact they kept happening kept the story rolling, all the way into the sunset. Puppy love, indeed.
I have read this book 736,297,148,453 times, or possibly 736,297,148,454; I lost count one night.
Sleeping with my then-young granddaughter one night, or rather NOT sleeping, she said to me: “Now it is night. Night is not a time to sleep. It is a time to play.”
I have been thinking and thinking about why this book is so weirdly compelling to my kid, what the deal is with the plot, why to me it feels like a fever dream (and makes more sense when I’m a little bit stoned) written by an off-brand Dr. Seuss—and once more Danny has articulated it all better than I ever could. Bravo.
Iirc, PD Eastman was the alternate pen name used by Dr. Seuss (also a pen name), for books he wrote but not illustrated.
(Edit, I was wrong, see replies)
I regret to inform you that PD Eastman is an actual guy and you are thinking of Theo Lesieg
Thank you for this sad information.
omg WHAT??? Thank you for this nugget of information
My dad loved that part of the book when he read it to us. He'd read the dogs' conversation in different silly voices. If someone asked his opinion on something, he'd respond (also in a silly voice), "Do you like my hat?" Thanks for bringing back that memory.
I LOVE Go, Dog, Go. I think about that dog party more than many other picture book moments.
An exegesis on Go, Dog, Go is the gift I didn’t know my life was missing!! 🤩
Reading your writing makes me think of words like “exegesis” and also inspires me to check the dictionary to make sure I’m using the words correctly. 😍
Chapeau!
"Look on us well; we are indeed, we are/Beatrice" -- could the Purgatorio possibly have inspired the 1980s TV commercials with the tagline "We're Beatrice"??
THIS BOOK IS UNHINGED THANK YOU FOR THIS
What a wonderful thing to read. I leave this post filled with joy & hope & a renewed desire to read to my child
When I read this to my son, I use Danny's Joan Didion/Anna Wintour voice for the pink dog/yellow dog hat interaction, because that is obviously what these dogs sound like.
The 246 time I read Green Eggs and Ham aloud to my twins I realized that it was about grace. Do you think Sam I Am and these two dogs wound up at the same party?
beautiful
I am verklempt reading this, surprised at my level of emotion, but thank you for writing this and exposing that yes, in fact, this WAS maybe the first love story I read as a child!!
"she has not been sitting around in front of a mirror, waiting for his approval, she has gone skiing around the world!" - my paraphrase, but SO GOOD!!
"I do not like your hat but I must have something of it to remember you by" might be one of the most romantic lines I've ever read and you're so correct for having summed up what's being said here.
thank you for rescuing this delightful subplot from the flattening "it's bad" analysis, highlighting the nuances of both honesty and affection at play. I am touched again as you point out their endings, joined, with no shadow of parting, never through a mirror darkly but at last face to face 🥹💜
Born in 1962, this is the first time I’ve experienced a reading of this book! Or maybe not……
Because my favorite dog book is No Roses for Harry and after seeing this book’s dogs I still would rather see Harry any old day!
I absolutely love Go Dog Go because I love "three dogs at a party on a boat at night" more than I love basically any page in any book in the history of literature.
BUT, I always read the Hat Dogs as two male dog voices when I was reading to my kids. I loved the flirtation of this pink little twink trying to get the big yellow dog's attention with increasingly flamboyant hats. And the yellow dog trying to act like he wasn't intrigued but clearly he was picking up what Pinky was putting down the whole time. I thought it was just sexier that way and lord knows you sometimes just need a little mental slash fanfiction in your bedtime reading.
My siblings, 10 and 12 years younger than me, favored the one about snow, and we can all still quote it 50 years later.
The game we played, growing up in Alaska, was that one person would say:
"I want to know if you like snow.
Do you like it? Yes or no?"
and the other was then obliged to go on: "Oh yes, oh yes, I do like snow!"
"Do you like it in your face?"
"Oh yes, I like it everyplace!"
Which invariably led to the first speaker hitting you in the face with a snowball, which actually we didn't like, but once you got on the dialog train you somehow couldn't get off again.
Awesome analysis! I'll admit as a tot who memorized this book - fooling my parents into thinking I could read by age 3 - diving into the WHY of those encounters never crossed my mind. Yes, the fact they kept happening kept the story rolling, all the way into the sunset. Puppy love, indeed.