Sleepy Dog

“Sleepy Dog”

I remember many important reading experiences in my life. I was interested in reading at a very young age. While most young children despised reading, and preferred coloring pictures or hot wheels, I was fascinated with reading from the start. I used to observe my parents at the kitchen table while they read the newspaper. I was always interested in what was going on. I would always walk over to them and I would ask them what all the different articles said. The only things I could identify were the pictures. I can remember many experiences when I think about it. There is one experience that sticks out in my mind.

I was about 5 years old. My mom ordered the book from the school, one of the book order deals that was sent home. My parents used to let me order books I thought I would be able to read. The name of the book was Sleepy Dog, by Harriet Ziefert and Norman Gorbaty. My mother read the description of the book to me, and I loved the picture of the dog on the cover. I couldn’t wait for the book to come in. This process was always a great surprise too. When I finally got the book, I never remembered ordering it, so it was a great surprise to just receive a book when I went to school.

Sleepy Dog was a book for beginners. I was still working toward reading, being I was only 5 or 6 years old. The book was great. I needed help the first few times I read it because there are always new words to learn. Of course I probably didn’t learn to read it, I probably just memorized the lines and pretended I could read it. Sleepy Dog was a great bedtime story and it is still very popular today. The cover of the book also grabs your attention when you‘re at that age. How can you go wrong with a big sleepy dog, a cat, and some stars? When you’re that young, pictures definitely matter, much more than the words. The pictures were big and animated. There was only a sentence or two per page. The book was easy to read and not too long,