So this girl dog has a rather reasonable hat in the beginning but she goes fishing for compliments and the dog she is obviously flirting with tells her honestly "I don't like your hat." This is the equivalent of saying "I'm not buying you a drink. Go hit on somebody else."
But the chick doesn't take a hint.
She goes and gets a new hat, which of course the boy dog doesn't like. She chases him through the book, trying to change herself a little each time so the next encounter will have a different outcome.
And what happens? They meet up again at a party. A dog party. Have you seen what is going on up there in top of that tree? No good, I will tell you that. So the boy dog, who obviously sees an easy conquest ends up giving in after who knows what he's indulged in at the party. And what happens? They go home together, as though this is a good thing. Riding into the sunset? Lets not even touch on the fact that he isn't taking a cab after that party.
The unwritten ending? Nothing but heart break.
This book is telling young girls to keep chasing after rude boys until one day they decide to take you home for a night.
PD Eastman, what are you doing to our daughters? I think the only right answer to this is that I take the book out of my house so I am never forced to read it, I mean, never have to expose my daughter to it again.
2 comments:
I read Go, Dogs, Go! first - the board book version which I much preferred...because it is shorter and has an actual (almost) storyline. Also, the whole hat part is completely removed.
However, does it say something that one of my first thoughts on reading your post was "I thought they met on the way to the party..." Am I taking this too seriously? :)
Time is a funny thing in Go Dog, Go... They meet going into the party, and then you as the reader are left to wonder if they go up into the tree together and leave together later on, or if they ditch the party all together and ride off into the sunset.
I suppose if they just ditch the party it makes it slightly better, but then again, how Frat-party-ish is that? You get all fancied up to go out with your friends, looking forward to a good party and then you run into some guy you've been crushing on so you ditch the party all together? Yeah, maybe not much better...
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