10 Dogs adds up to a clever sibling that’s more than a counting book

Dogs are the Rodney Dangerfield of the internet. If your local human society is holding a newspaper collection drive they might say, we need your old newspapers to line the dog’s cages and the cats need something to read. * Having said that, dogs are awesome and although their meme appeal isn’t as high as cats online, their real-life presence is just as strong. 10 Dogs is the sibling to 10 Cats, one of the best counting books we’ve seen recently. When I saw 10 Dogs I did squint just a little bit because I feared that the clever premise would be used once too often. Instead, 10 Dogs goes in an entirely different direction that takes inspiration from cats but is its own funny, clever creation.

10 Dogs is a counting book, but it’s not a traditional counting book. Its goal is not to teach kids how to count to 10. There are 10 dogs, but the dogs don’t come in, or disappear one at a time. Instead, the 10 dogs, all of varying sizes, breeds and characteristics are shown around a country-themed dining room table. The chairs are mismatched, the tablecloth is quaint, the red and white vase has two yellow flowers in it and there’s a transparent glass bowl with 10 sausages in it.

10 dogs and 10 sausages could’ve added up to 10, but this is all about the chaos and fun that add up to 10. Sometimes one dog will have all of them with nine dogs not having any. Two dogs will fight over half of them, leaving eight of the dogs on the sidelines. The smallest dog might be under the glass bowl, hiding from one of the other dogs and then on the next page have a majority of sausages under the bowl with him seated on top.

The dog that’s the most white might have one of the yellow flowers behind its ear. The dogs divide into teams with half of them guarding the sausages behind the table fortress. The dachshund ends up under the table with none of the sausages, until the remaining nine dogs form a canine ladder enabling their stout friend to walk on their backs so that it can reach the table to get the remaining sausage.

10 Dogs is a giddy, laugh-out-loud or grin-to-yourself great time that offers two levels of enjoyment. The obvious level are looking at the dogs and enjoying their interaction. The second layer is the minute details that are on every page and start the moment that you turn the cover. When you turn the cover you’ll see the aforementioned 10 sausages. When the book ends you’ll see the same polka dot tablecloth where the sausages were, but in their place are just the grease outlines and some sausage crumbs.

A friend of mine has a shirt that offers that same illusion. The text on it says “My picnic shirt”, and just below that are a dozen or so thumb prints from the greasy byproduct of eating finger food. It took me a moment before I realized that the shirt was not dirty. 10 Dogs is a softer trick than that because it’s separated by the pages within the book. The clever kids will see it, flip back and forth like a Mad Magazine activity, show their friends, and then look at the illustrations in the book again.

10 Dogs is fun and builds upon the cleverness of 10 Cats. It’s a counting book with interactive elements that lets the kids seek and find or simply enjoy the book as it sits. However, from the glossy, noses and eyes on the cover, to the dog’s personalities that are so engaging it’s challenging not to touch them; the book will yield enjoyment far beyond those ages that are learning the multiples of 10.

10 Dogs is by Emily Gravett and is available on Boxer Books, an imprint of Pan Macmillan.

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