Walk Your Dog by Elizabeth Stevens Omlor, illustrated by Neesha Hudson

Book cover of Walk Your Dog

From the moment they wake up in the morning until they drift off to sleep at night a girl and her dog are inseparable. (Note the flap copy and summary describe the protagonist as a girl, and I will use she/her pronouns in this post, however the main text does not specify the character’s gender identity.) Using three word, declarative sentences readers narrate the duo’s day from breakfast and getting dressed, through a messy, but satisfying walk in the park, to an evening of stories and snuggles.

Omlor’s brief, but engaging text uses a repetitive sentence structure and a large, easy to read font. Each sentence is smartly placed on the page with ample white space. Hudson’s bright and cheerful watercolor and colored pencil illustrations alternate between full-bleed two page spreads and sequential images that show action, while also adding humorous touches. The movement and humor create that sought after “page-turning dynamic” mentioned in the award criteria.


Image of girl dressing her dog in many outfits. Text reads: Dress your dog. 
From Walk Your Dog by Elizabeth Stevens Omlor, illustrated by Neescha Hudson.

This brings us to word and sentence repetition. While there is indeed quite a lot of repetition in the text, the repetition is reserved for the same two words throughout the book.

       “Greet your dog.
       Groom your dog.
       Feed your dog.
       Dress your dog.
       Walk your dog.”

While some of these action words are sight words, and therefore recognizable to some new readers, it’s still unfortunate that none of them are ever repeated to give readers the opportunity to gain confidence and mastery with them.

Another element to consider is the word choice in combination with the visual context clues. This is slightly different than assessing word choice in picture books for reading aloud, in fact we actively look for read aloud titles that expand vocabulary. However, word choice looks different when looked at through a beginning reader lens. It’s not that the illustrations don’t provide clues to the words, they do. Instead, it’s a case of wondering, using visual context clues will readers arrive at the same word selected by the author? Here are a couple of examples.

This first one reads, “Groom your dog.” But I wonder, would “Brush your dog” have been a stronger choice?


Image of girl brushing dog in bathroom. Text reads: Groom your dog. 
From Walk Your Dog by Elizabeth Stevens Omlor, illustrated by Neescha Hudson.

Here’s another. Would readers use the illustrations to suss out “Settle your dog.” or would they be more likely to think, “Read to your dog.” ?

Image on right of girl reading to her dog. On left, the dog following girl. Text reads: Settle your dog. 
From Walk Your Dog by Elizabeth Stevens Omlor, illustrated by Neescha Hudson.

Overall, I think there’s a lot to admire in this charming picture book. The subject matter is engaging (I was just asked for beginning readers with dogs the other day) and the page-turning dynamic is enviable. But my hopes of it being a good fit for very new readers, based on sentence length and font size, weren’t as satisfied. That said, I haven’t observed any kids reading it. If you have, how did it go? Leave a comment below.