''Go, Dog. Go!'' is a 1961

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

written and illustrated by P. D. Eastman. It describes the actions and interactions of a group of highly mobile

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the gray wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it was selectively bred from a population of wolves during the Late Pleistocene by hunter-gatherers. ...

s, who operate

cars A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...

and other conveyances in pursuit of work, play, and a final mysterious goal: a dog party. The book introduces concepts such as color and relative position with simple language and humor. ("The blue dog is in. The red dog is out.") The book helps children learn basic concepts and actions such as playing, working, going up, going down. The book also teaches children colors and conveys emotion. The dogs featured in the book use their cars to help them get their work done and get to places. Throughout the book, details in Eastman's illustrations seem to invite the reader to notice the deeper significance of small things. In their first appearance, a pink dog asks a yellow dog if he likes her hat with its little flower. He does not, so they part. Several pages later, they are met again as they are riding scooters. She has a hat with a feather, and again he does not like her hat. But as they part, he has made off with the feather. When they are next seen together, they are skiing. The yellow dog does not like the long ski cap the pink dog is wearing. As they leave, she bids him farewell. In their final meeting, her hat — now even more elaborate — finally meets the approval of the yellow dog. In this way, a relationship development is shown between the characters despite the simplicity of the text. It shows interaction when the dogs meet. Throughout the book, the conclusion is elusive, but at the end all the dogs have a wild party.

Adaptations

* In 2003, a musical version of the book was developed by Steven Dietz and Allison Gregory for the Seattle Children's Theatre. The play has been widely staged throughout the U.S., often as an introduction to theater for young children. * A CGI

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

based on the book and produced by

DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios or simply DreamWorks) is an American animation studio, owned by Comcast's NBCUniversal as part of Universal Pictures, a division of Universal Studios, Inc, Universal Stud ...

and WildBrain Studios premiered on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

on January 26, 2021.

Notes

{{Portal, Children's literature 1961 children's books American picture books Random House books Books by P. D. Eastman Children's books about dogs Children's books adapted into television shows Books adapted into plays