Cecile Boyer

Originally published in French as Ouaf miaou cui cui, and awarded an honorable mention at the 2010 Bologna Children's Book Fair, in the Opera Prima award category - set up to recognize the work of new authors and illustrators - this innovative picture-book takes a look at a dog, a cat, and a bird, who are represented in the simple but appealing artwork by the sound-word associated with them. Rather than depicting an actual dog, the word "woof" is used, visually, to represent the animal (as show more "meow" is for the cat, and "tweet tweet" for the bird), with changes in text size and orientation (rising or falling word, letters turned upon their side) indicating motion and activity.

The art of the picture-book rests, by its very nature, relies upon the interaction of text and image, but Cécile Boyer's Woof Meow Tweet-Tweet - which I found this past weekend on my children's library's "new books" shelf, and picked up on impulse - takes this to another level, blurring the lines between art and word in a way that is highly reminiscent of the conceptualists. Interesting, both from an intellectual and artistic perspective, the book is also pleasing, not so much as a story (it felt too episodic for that), but as a reading experience that children will enjoy. The artwork is eye-grabbing, and the use of the woof, meow and tweet-tweet is likely to strike youngsters as amusing (particularly when the "woof" urinates on the side of a building!). Recommended to picture-book lovers looking for something a little different, something graphically innovative, in their reading diet. show less

I like this book! If my kids (3 and 5) were a little younger, they would have really liked it as well. The illustrations are fabulous and so dynamic that you don't miss the words.

Pros: Fantastic, bright, and cheerful illustrations plus an interesting structure with panels for the child to turn make this a great selection for infants and toddlers. Being wordless, you can make your own story.

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"Run, Dog!" by Cecile Boyer is a cute book for very early readers. The only language are sight words and verbs that direct the dog who plays and looks for friendship. I enjoyed the series of mini pages on the pages that showed a series of a events. There is a lot of subtext to the illustrations that give a lot of opportunity for children to notice detail. I also enjoy stories that follow the simplicity of friendship and, of course, dogs looking for friendship. The book may inspire children show more to play with their pets at home and to remember to love them. show less

This concept book differentiates dogs from cats from birds by describing each of them. The book closes with a description of what happens when the dog's, cat's, and bird's paths cross. I like this book for its simplistic illustrations and style and for its use of onomatopoeia throughout. This would be a fun book to use in a prek-1 classroom to talk about each of the animals and their qualities and to possibly launch off on a discussion about pets.