Happy Dog, Sad Dog, by Sam Lloyd

A fabulous book...my baby daughter loves it. Clear, simple and cute illustrations showing opposites.

I agree with all said here....my daughter loved it and we did all the 'hot' and 'cold' etc actions which she soon copied. V cute.

My 16 month old LOVES this book. Her face lights up when she sees the cover. On holiday last week, I was reading it to her at dinner. When we got to the 'hairy dog' bit, she rubbed her own hair and when we got to the 'bald dog' bit she prodded the page excitedly and shouted "Dada"! It amused me and all the adjacent tables. Not sure about her poor dad though!

Happy Dog, Sad Dog is a really simple idea for a baby book and deals with the subject of opposites.

To be honest I was not expecting too much from this book because the cover did not appeal to me but my 13 month old daughter has really taken to it.

Opposites are shown using two dogs and my daughter giggles at them as one does the complete opposite to the other. She laughs out loud at the 'Clean Dog, Dirty Dog' page because I put on a deep voice to say Dirty Dog and she points to him like he's much more fun than the clean dog!

The pictures are wonderfully simple and look to me like the kind of cartooney drawings I see on a daily basis on the Cbeebies channel. My daughter strokes the dogs faces so the illustrator has definitely made them lifelike to a baby's eye even if they look a little bit too basic to me. I love the use of the bright colours on each page as they draw my daughters eye quite deliberately from one page to another which is another way the book accentuates the opposites.

My daughter is particularly fond of the 'Hot Dog, Cold Dog' which is partly because her dad puts on the actions of a dog getting too hot, and then getting too cold. He has me in stitches but I can see why she looks at him strangely sometimes while he's reading the book, she finds it very funny though and will sometimes flick back to that page so he has to do it again!

I think this is a lovely way to start your baby off with books. My daughter has had her copy for around a month and enjoys it each time we read it, she laughs at the dogs antics and because it's written in such bright and vibrant colours it holds her interest well. I think it would suit an older toddler just as well because they will have a better grasp of opposites, and thinking about it this book would be a decent reference point for an even older child who is learning about opposites at nursery.

Happy Dog, Sad Dog is the perfect length I think for babies and toddlers, it's 16 pages long and because the pages are so attractive to the eye my daughter will sit down for long enough for us to get through the whole book. The fact that she doesn't get bored is testament to how brilliant this book is!

My neighbour passed this to me with a bag of baby books and clothes, her granddaughter had used it for two years and the book was still in immaculate condition. The board made to make Happy Dog, Sad Dog is second to none and after my daughter had had a good chew last night (back teeth slowly emerging) there are practically no marks on the pages - and her gums are strong enough to mark my finger!

You can buy a copy of Happy Dog, Sad Dog from Amazon for

Great book for babies, and a great book for a toddler to 'read' to a baby too!

We got this one in the Bookstart pack, I initially thought it was a bit rubbish! However, DD (1) and DS (3) really like it so it shows what I know. DS knows all the words so they sit happily and read it together.

A fab simple book. DH "read" it to DS when he was very young, complete with expressions/impressions of each dog. DS's favourite was "hot dog" cue DH panting with tongue out then "cold dog" cue DH shivering and jiggling DS about madly! Fond memories of this lovely book!

Brilliant. Both my children have loved this book. Great for babies as the pictures are very colourful and appealing.

Often given away free in Bookstart bags, this is a lovely book for babies. Big bold pictures of dogs, with just enough detail to talk about. Also, lots of fun saying "dirty dog" in your best James Cagney style!