Published: 2018
Author: Aaron Reynolds | Illustrator: Dan Santat
Genre: Children’s Minimalist Picture Book / Humorous Fiction
Audience: Pre-K–Grade 3
Number of Stars: ★★★☆☆
Goodreads Link: Dude!
Themes: Vocal Expression, Perspective Shifts, Friendship, Subverting Fears, Surf Culture.
Review by: Megan Powell
Publisher’s Summary
Aaron Reynolds, the author of Nerdy Birdy and Creepy Carrots! teams up with Dan Santat, the Caldecott–winning illustrator behind The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend to create the hilarious, gnarly summer adventure picture book, Dude! Dude! You have to read this book. It’s totally about this platypus and this beaver who are friends. They want to go surfing but dude, there’s this shark who’s in the ocean, too. But don’t worry. This shark approaches and you’ll never guess what happens.
Review
I specifically chose this book to fulfill my “one word” in the title prompt, and it is a very unique piece of children’s literature. The text carries a highly distinct constraint: it relies almost entirely on just one single word repeated multiple times across different scenarios—and that word is “Dude!” Because of this unique setup, this book is exceptionally big on tone. Whoever is reading this book aloud to a group needs to be quite dynamic and exaggerated in the way that they say the word “dude” throughout the story in order to keep the plot interesting and clear for the kids. I was able to listen to an audio version of this book, and I thoroughly enjoyed hearing the different ways the voice actors pronounced “dude” depending on the exact situation that the characters were facing. It serves as a great book to have on hand in an early childhood classroom library or to pull out for a quick, simple read-aloud session. This would be highly appropriate for younger kiddos; I would place it right around the ages of Pre-K through 3rd grade. The illustrations by Dan Santat are very cute throughout the book. I recommend this book for sure!
🎒 Classroom & Curricular Connections
- Speech, Language & Drama (Exploring Intonation and Context):
- Activity Idea: “The Punctuation Station.” Use this book to demonstrate how punctuation changes the entire meaning of a word. Write the word “Dude” on the board four times, adding a period, an exclamation point, a question mark, and an ellipsis to each. Have students practice saying the word to express anger, surprise, confusion, or fear, showing them how non-verbal context and vocal pitch communicate text message meanings.
- Visual Literacy & Comic Strips (Inferring Plot Without Prose):
- Activity Idea: “Storyboarding Actions.” Because the text doesn’t explicitly state what the beaver and platypus are doing, students must “read” Dan Santat’s expressive illustrations to understand the plot. Have students look at a page spread and describe the action using transition words (first, next, suddenly, then), strengthening their ability to infer narrative details from visual cues.
- Social-Emotional Learning (Overcoming Assumptions and Fearing the Unknown):
- Activity Idea: “The Shark’s True Colors.” The main conflict of the book sets up a shark as a scary underwater threat, only to subvert that expectation completely at the end. Use this twist to host a classroom circle discussion about making assumptions. Talk about how someone or something that seems intimidating at first on the school playground might just want to be included and play with the group.
