The Misery of the City, The Peace of the Sea
Reviewed by Dr. Jerry Flack
The canine hero of Hot Dog is a Dachshund, but the title is not a nickname for that popular breed. The title is quite literally a story about a day in the life of a dog (actually a pup) whose existence becomes increasingly wretched due to the stifling summer heat of his home in New York City.
The story begins on a blistering summer day. The unnamed protagonist of this delightful animal story prepares for a stroll with his beloved mistress, a middle-age single woman (also nameless), when she attaches his leash and the pair begin a day of running errands in the broiling heat of the inner city. Reluctantly, the hero of this tale follows his mistress’s predictable daily walk.
The problem for the young canine is that the inner city on the hottest day of the summer is an undesirable environment. Fire engines blare horrible sirens and construction workers use noisy jack hammers in congested traffic. Rude drivers “Honk Hawwk” and impatient taxi drivers add constant “beep beeps” to the cacophony of city sounds. Moreover, busy pedestrians and teenage skateboarders rush here and there, never paying attention to a young pup who barely comes up to their ankles.
The day grows hotter and more intolerable by the minute. Finally, the young pup has had enough. “THAT’S IT!” he barks as he stages a “lie down” strike directly in the crosswalk of a congested street. The protesting noises grow even louder.
Thankfully, his care giver realizes the perfect solution for her young charge’s discomfort. She has the perfect cure. She gathers up the pup and rushes by taxi, train, and ferry to reach an island surrounded by the sea. Off comes the pesky leash. The pup can run and explore the wet sand beach and even plunge into cooling ocean waves. There are no more obnoxious people or noises. The air is fresh and cool and smells of the sea. He can frolic along the beach. He discovers ocean pebbles that he proudly brings as gifts to his mistress. Each new wave deposits still more precious gifts of sea-washed stones. He even meets up with a resting seal on a tidal flat. There are no more obnoxious city sounds or human overcrowding.
Time and tide advance. The scorching sun begins to sink into the sea just as the majestic moon rises as a perfect summer excursion comes to an end.
The return journey to the city is more sanguine. City dwellers are quieter. Many are exhausted. Things have cooled down. The young pup begins to remember familiar scents and places in the pathway back to his home. Both the pup and his mistress are hungry. It has been a long day and it is soon time for bed and peaceful dreams of a most unusual day.
Art is everywhere in Hot Dog. The front and back covers visually represent the blistering heat of the city. The end papers are sketches of the picture book hero. Even the title and copyright pages feature scenes early on in the hero’s less than halcyon city day. The artist’s use of color is terrific. Hot colors of red, orange, bright pink, and neon yellow are found in the paintings of the super hot and busy cityscapes.
Cooler colors of blue and green offer visual contrast as the story moves to the peace and tranquility of seascapes with the uncrowded ocean beach and the serenity of bedtime and sweet dreams. In addition to the sweet good humor of the story, Salati adds at least two other artistic joys. Firstly, he is not afraid to show readers that artists can break rules. He colors outside the lines! Secondly, subtle continuity exists in his paintings. Even small objects noted in the opening visual chronology of the book’s 40 pages reappear in later paintings. The outsized eye glasses of the pup’s human are revisited throughout the story, even when they are merely resting on her bed stand after she has fallen sound asleep.
Single and double-page spreads are glorious, but Salati also makes great use of white space. His scenes are particularly lively and effervescent. His style is, of course, distinctly his own, but readers may find his joyful artwork reminiscent of the artistic genius of classic illustrators such as Ezra Jack Keats, Tomie de Paola, and even Dr. Seuss (a.k.a. Theodor S. Geisel). City heat aside, readers will find this a tender and funny picture book. The fact that Hot Dog is Salati’s debut book as both author and illustrator makes his achievement even more phenomenal. This is a picture book of such joy that it is destined to be a classic for generations yet to come.
Home and School Activities
Add a Dimension.
The many paintings in Hot Dog provide images of the unnamed canine protagonist. Readers see the hot dog from many perspectives. Using these numerous views as cues, advance the art to yet a new dimension. Make a three-dimensional replica of a young Dachshund out of clay, cardboard, folded construction paper, or other youth-friendly building materials.
Another Day, Another Season.
Hot Dog initially takes place on the hottest day of summer in New York City. Fast forward six months. The protagonist has grown, but he is still primarily horizontal in shape and close to the ground. Ask readers to brainstorm a list of the five senses and note how some city elements will become further vexations the canine hero may have to face in mid-winter walks. How would the cityscape change if the story setting occurred in January? Encourage young artists to draw or color a scene of the young dachshund out for a walk on a snowy day.
Multiple Viewings.
The most common word of praise picture book critics have used in their reviews of Doug Salati’s Caldecott Medal book is “fluid.” Inspire young readers to make multiple trips from cover to cover through the pages of Hot Dog. Help them closely examine the artist’s style. How do they interpret the word “fluid” to describe the illustrations? (What is their visual understanding of drawing or painting fluidly?) Imagine a crucial event in the pup’s hot and cool summer day. Using their own artistic conceptions of “fluid,” invite young illustrators to paint a new representation to add to the picture book’s existing images.
Anthropomorphism.
Anthropomorphism in literature occurs when the attribution of human behaviors such as speech is given to animals and other non-human beings. The young protagonist of Hot Dog does not engage in speech with his person for example, but he exhibits some very real human reactions to the irritations of a big city on the hottest day of the summer. One of the most scintillating and colorful spreads in this picture books occurs near the end when the pair (pup and his person) share a late supper just before bedtime. Both sit at the kitchen table. Ask readers to imagine a conversation between the two central characters. Can they write a page of dialogue that might occur in order to sum up the day’s highs and lows as if the young pup did have the attribute of human speech?
A Story of Contrasts.
Hot Dog is a superb example of storytelling based upon contrasts. The young Dachshund hero experiences a hot and crowded city center, but then finds elation on a cool and isolated ocean beach. Ask readers to generate a list of contrasting conditions. Examples of such opposites might include day and night, noisy and quiet, sunny and cloudy, busy and idle, and summer and winter. Encourage readers to use Doug Salati’s storytelling format to write and illustrate a story about their pets, real or imagined, in two quite different settings. How might a story about a Maine Coon cat named Hermione unfold in two quite different environments, such as urban vs. rural?
Salati, Doug. Hot Dog. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2022. American Library Association Caldecott Medal, 2023.
