One-Dog Canoe
Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2003
Hardcover: 978 – 0374356385
Paperback: 978 – 0312561185
32 pages
Autographed copies of One-Dog Canoe are available from Mary’s online store.
One-Dog Canoe
written by Mary Casanova
illustrated by Ard Hoyt
I set off one morning in my little red canoe.
My dog wagged his tail.
“Can I come, too??
“You bet,? I said.
“A trip for two – just me and you?
But when “with a slap and a swim” Beaver scrambles in, and then “with a ‘woo-hooo!’ – flap!” Loon lands in the young canoeist’s lap, it’s clear that this will be no ordinary canoe trip.
A bouncy rhyming text and exuberant pictures full of funny, escalating antics will have young readers laughing out loud — for just when it seems the canoe can’t hold anyone else, frog jumps in!
If you enjoyed One-Dog Canoe, the same creative team of Mary Casanova and Ard Hoyt have a new book for you: Some Dog!
Video
Virtual Kinder Konzerts™
The Minnesota Orchestra’s acclaimed Kinder Konzerts can now travel outside Minnesota with companion materials including a curated box full of hands-on learning tools, art projects, instruments, a notebook of “Activities & Lessons for Home & School.” View the lesson plan for One Dog Canoe.
For more information visit the Friends of of the Minnesota Orchestra’s website.
Kinder Konzerts in a Box™
Kinder Konzerts in a Box™ is a curated box full of hands-on learning tools, art projects, instruments, a notebook of Activities & Lessons for Home & School, and much more. All activities and materials in Kinder Konzerts in a Box™ are created around the musical story of One-Dog Canoe.
Limited scholarship funds are available from FRIENDS of the Minnesota Orchestra and generous donors to help offset the cost of Kinder Konzerts in a Box™ for families and schools. Please click here to complete a scholarship application.
Nellie at Orchestra Hall
Reviews & Comments
This cumulative tale…is an excellent choice for storytime.
—Library Media Connection
Casanova puts a North Woods spin on the popular folktale ‘The Mitten’ as she loads up a small red canoe with animals of the forest and lake until the tippy boat can take no more … Rhyming text sets a buoyant tone … An amusing subplot, about the fate of the girl’s picnic lunch, develops wordlessly, to great effect. Readers will happily embark on this animated excursion.
—Publishers Weekly
Casanova’s rhyming text employs a familiar cumulative twist as each animal requests a ride. ‘I doubt you’ll fit. It’s a one-beaver, one dog canoe,’ she tells a curious loon …
—Kirkus Reviews
Awards
- Wyoming’s “Buckaroo” Master List, 2005 – 2006
- Illinois “Monarch” Children’s Book Master List, 2005
- Minnesota Humanities Council, “Storytime” Master List, 2003
- Minnesota Book Award Finalist, 2004
- Maine “Chickadee” Children’s Choice Master List, 2004
- Nevada Children’s Choice Master List, 2004 – 2005
- Missouri “Building Block” Children’s Choice Master List, 2005
Curriculum Information
A girl and her dog’s one-dog canoe ride become more and more chaotic as large and small animals hop aboard. The animals that come aboard include:
a bear
a moose
a wolf
a beaver
a loon, and
a frog
Discuss how the plot of this story is similar to or different from either
of these tales:
The Mitten by Alvin Tresselt
The Mitten by Jan Brett
Who Sank the Boat? by Pamela Allen
Mr. Gumpy’s Outing by John Burningham
Note from Mary
The Story Behind One-Dog Canoe
The cocker spaniel in this photo inspired a story called ‘One-Dog Canoe.’ One day when I was on a writers’ retreat, I decided to take a break from my laptop and went canoeing with my friend, Phyllis Root. Halfway across the small bay, I looked back. Bror, the cocker spaniel, was following us from the island. We pulled over to a rock and let him hop aboard. On we paddled, and around the next bend, a golden retriever stared at us from the end of a dock. He hung his head and seemed to ask, “Can I come too??
“No,” I said aloud, “it’s a one-dog canoe.? I glanced back at Phyllis and said, “I think there’s a story here.? I went back to my cabin and quickly jotted down the ideas. Many drafts later, the story sold.
One-Dog Canoe first sold in 1997 to DK Publishers and was scheduled to be released with illustrations by a different illustrator. For personal reasons, the initial illustrator could not finish his work on the book.
While searching for a new illustrator, my editor, Melanie Kroupa, chose to work with a different publisher — Farrar, Straus, Giroux (FSG) — and brought One-Dog Canoe with her. Eventually, after more than a year of searching for the right illustrator, she discovered a new talent in Ard Hoyt. One-Dog Canoe was finally published in the Spring of 2003. And Ard Hoyt’s illustrations — north-woodsy, whimsical, and imaginative — were worth the wait.
