Go, Dog. Go!

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Go, Dog, Go! (ISBN 0394800206) is a children's book written by P. D. Eastman and published March 12, 1961 by Random House Books for Young Readers as part of the Beginner Books series.

The book introduces concepts such as color and relative position with simple language and humor. ("The blue dog is out. The red dog is in.") Eastman understood that while children need to learn from repetition, the mental well-being of parents demands that books read many times have some way of engaging adult interest. Go, Dog, Go! is a remarkable example of the art of writing on two levels.

Throughout the book, subtle messages to parents seem to invite the reader to notice the deeper significance of small things. The girl dog asks the boy dog if he likes her hat with its little flower: he does not; they part. Several pages later, we meet them again. Now they are riding scooters; she has a hat with a feather. He has a bowler hat and a cane. Again, he does not like her hat, but as they part, he has made off with the feather.

Later, many dogs are sleeping on an enormous bed. ("The dogs go to sleep. They will sleep all night.") But a little blue dog is sitting up, eyes big and round. On the next page, the dogs are jumping out of bed to the encouragement of a green dog with a bell and bullhorn. But now the blue dog is fast asleep.