Writer Barbara Nichol has dug down deep to her inner puppy and come up with a whole batch of dog poems in which the cadence and content are delightfully right.

Dish and Bowl
dish and bowl
Do I love you?
Heart and soul!

The short poems capture absolute silliness as well as moments of awe, all, curiously enough, quite connected to the lives of children. In the illustration accompanying “Autumn,” the head of a goofy dog boings up through a pile of leaves and the poem reads:

Frost upon the morning grass
Berries on the trees
When I am old
I will remember
Mornings such as these.

The poems are pared down and thoroughly polished. They both flow as pleasurable sound and hold a reader’s attention from beginning to end. A bit too much adult intellectuality seeps through the longer poems, which require more skill from readers, but when read aloud well, they’ll be enjoyed.

Nichol is the author of Beethoven Lives Upstairs, and writer/director of its companion Juno Award-winning platinum recording. The latest of her many other works is the picture book Dippers, nominated for this year’s Governor General’s Award. Internationally acclaimed artist Philippe Beha has illustrated more than 100 books for kids. In Biscuits in the Cupboard, his very funny, scribbly pictures are perfect for the poems. He conveys so much humour and personality in a few lines. With their joint experience and ability, Nichol and Beha have created a successful lighthearted book of poems with genuinely amusing illustrations – and it’s a treat compared to the dreary nonsense poems too often offered to children.

Teachers and librarians will use this book of verse until the covers fall off, getting the little kids to listen and the big ones to write their own. Parents will enjoy it too, as a read-together book for all ages.