Does anyone here have the book "Go Dog Go"?

Cafe Society
#1

I just bought a bunch of children’s books from Amazon for my friend’s new baby. I bought all the books I remember my dad reading to me.

One of the books was P.D. Eastman’s “Go Dog Go” which was a “Book for beginning reader” i believe. In fact it was the first book I read myself. The version I had was hardcover, about 5"x 10" with paper pages.

Being that I am cheap, I bought the “board book” version for my friend, since it was a little cheaper. Last night I opened up the Amazon package to read the books and something wasn’t right about “Go Dog Go”…

A board book i sabout a 3" x 4" book with hard cardboard pages. I also got the “Hop on Pop” board book. Both books seemed to have the same number of pages.

There was a part in “Go Dog Go”, I THOUGHT, that involved 2 dogs on scooters with hats on. One dog rolls up and says “Do you like my hat?” and the other says “no” and they say goodbye and roll off. Then the “narrative” continues about dogs going. I think they appear a couple times in the book. It was a seriously funny non-sequitor and I distinctly remember my family saying “do you like my hat?” all the time, in reference to this book.

Now my brother is saying I’m mental and the “do you like my hat?” thing is NOT from “Go Dog Go.” He thinks it’s from something else, and that they wouldn’t edit a children’s book.

I say bullshit. Those dogs on scooters with hats DO show up in the book, except it just says something like “dogs go on scooters.” Meh!

I think they edited the book to make it fit in this newfangled “board book” configuration.

Does anyone have a regular, hardcover, paper-paged copy of this book that has been printed recently that can confirm my story? I want to return the board book and get the hardcover version if I’m right.

Because dogs on scooters dissing eachother’s hats is seriously funny.

#2

According to this site you have a better memory than your brother.

#3

Your brother has too much faith in the integrity of the publishing industry. Either that, or he’s full of shit.

You are absolutely correct. The board book version of Go Dog Go doesn’t even qualify as the Readers Digest version of the classic kiddie tome. They simply took a few of the illustrations and pretty much wrote new and (need we say it?) less imaginitive text. Having cut my teeth (literally as well as metaphorically) on the esteemed works of PD Eastman, I was grossly disappointed in this unforgivable bastardization of a seminal work of pre-school literature.

And yes, the hat gag is repeated a couple of times. First there is the bit with the scooters, and later the two are on skis. Finally, at the end, the one dog is wearing a rather elaborate hat that would do any Mardi-Gras celebrant proud, and asks “Do you like my hat?” The other pooch, having formerly played the role of the insufferable archcritic, replies this time, with great enthusiasm that the hat is, in fact, magnificent.

#4

Yep, it’s definitely in Go, Dog, Go.
The two dogs meet a couple of times, the one dog (the boy dog?) disses the other dog’s hats each time, until the end when he says, 'Yes, yes, I do like that hat!" and they ride off into the sunset on their scooters together.

#5

We have two copies, one in terrible shape. Both have the “Do you like my hat?” page with the dogs. This was my sons favorite book when he was 3.

Jim

#6

We have both the original and the board book version at home right now. My 1 year old (almost 2) digs the longer one better.

Yes, they’re different. And it shows.

#7

“Do you like my hat?”
“No, I do not like your hat.”
“Goodbye.”
“Goodbye.”

This conversational passage has been in the family lexicon for two generations - now I have to find the book for the grandchildren and make it three!

Go Dog Go!

#8

This was the first book I bought after my grandson was born about a year and a half ago.

Red dogs! Green dogs! Blue dogs!

#9

You’re absolutely correct- the hat conversation culminates at the end with the following exclamation from one of the dogs (paraphrased, since I’m at work):

Question: “Do you like my hat?”
Answer: “I do! What a hat! I like that party hat!” (Although my two-year-old pronounces it “I yike dat pawty hat!”)

My girls really like this book.

#10

I always thought that dog party looked like fun!

#11

Blasphemy. How could they leave out the hat part?!?

I’m pretty sure I have a copy at home. I will check when I get home tonight. My mother went on a buying frenzy a few years ago at antique stores, and bought me copies of all my childhood favorites.

Along the same lines, they changed “The Lorax”, too. There used to be a line about the pollution in one lake being as bad as Lake Erie. The new versions don’t have that line.

#12

Egad…I am going to have to check on “Hop On Pop” too, then, to see if it’s changed as well!! I’ll go to Borders tonight and get the “real” version of “Go Dog Go.”

Seriously, the hat part is the best part of the book.

Kizarvexius are you saying they took out MORE than just the “hat” parts? Because it DOES seem to be a fairly boring read. I mean, I loved it as a tot…I should be just as excited about it now.

Das Glas - My family too. Only my brother seems to have forgotten where it’s from. And dad had a hard time choosing between which one of his kids was right. I’ll have to shove it in their faces now that I am right!

Here’s to Little Golden Books, though. I also bought “There’s A Monster At The End of This Book” (starring Grover) and it was both cheap AND un-edited.

#13

I love hats! I have a whole collection of weird and wonderful hats. Whenever my mom comes to visit, I have to try on my latest acquisition and ask “Do you like my hat?”

Yes, another case where it’s entered the “family vocabulary.”

My sister got the original version and reads it to my two nephews (3 & 6) who love it!

#14

This change was made by Dr. Seuss himself, according to the book Dr Seuss and Mr Geisel. He recieved a letter from people working on Lake Erie who commented that Lake Erie was not as polluted as it was when he originally wrote The Lorax. Since the segment was four rhyming lines, he only needed to remove the Lake Erie line and the phrase still made sense.

Seuss also changed his first book, And to Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street, twice. Among the things that Marco saw on his imagined walk to school was “A Chinaman who eats with sticks.” “A Chinaman” was later changed to “A Chinese man,” which was later changed to “A Chinese boy.” With that second change, the drawing was also changed to remove the pigtail and the yellow hue from the Chinese boy to make him look more realistic and less stereotypical. Seuss approved all of these changes.
Looking on Amazon.com, I see that the original hardcover book is published under the “Beginner Books” label, and the board book is published under the “Bright and Early Books for Early Readers” label. Bright and Early Books are made for younger readers than Beginner Books, which explains why the text is simpler. The copyright page also reads that the book was “originally published in a different form.” Random House publishes a number of board books based on classic Beginner Books which have simpler texts- I’ve seen a board book of Dr. Seuss’s ABC in which some of the rhymes are simpler than those in the original.

#15

I just want to say that the dogs having a party in the tree is what kept me coming back constantly when I was a kid and now that I have kids, it is still my favorite part.

#16

I can’t believe the thread title didn’t make me think of this earlier:

Ralph Wiggum: “Do you have Go, Dog, Go?”
Young Adult Librarian “[scoffs] That’s in Juvenile.”

#17

Well, since the OP has been thoroughly discussed, I’d just like to say that this was my favorite book as a wee halfling, and my favorite part was the double page spread of all the dogs sleeping, except for one who was wide awake.

#18

Can I just say that this thread (and its juxtaposition with all the other stuff that gets talked about around here) is a good example of why I love the SDMB?

#19

How can you have Go, Dog, Go without the hat subplot. It only ties the whole damn thing together. Cripes! BTW, that was my first favorite book. I actually memorized it before I learned to read.

#20

Officer Barbrady: I’ve just finished reading the heartwarming novel, “Go Dog Go.” I found it a compelling and disturbing look at the canine psyche. If I may read a passage: ‘Big… dog…, little… dog. A red dog… on a…’ Well, anyway, I’m not one to give away the ending, but I will say that it spirals toward an incredible twist-turn that parallels my own life.