Speak, Boy! Talk, Oscar, Please! by Karen Kaufman Orloff

OSCAR, YOU GROWL,
AND, OSCAR, YOU BARK.

OH, HOW I WISH YOU COULD TALK!

A boy and his dog, what relationship could be closer? This boy wants to do everything with his pup and dreams of taking him along to school to share that big experience, hoping that Oscar would learn to talk along with his ABCs. And after school...

IF YOU COULD TALK, OSCAR, YOU WOULD COACH OUR NEW TEAM.
WHEN I KICK THE BALL, YOU'LL CHEER AND YOU'LL SCREAM.

If wishing could make it so, Oscar would be receiving, um, the Oscar at the Academy Awards for his elocution, but try as he may, wishing just doesn't make it so. Oscar wags his tail and yips with glee when it's playtime, but still, he's not progressing as a conversationalist. Finally the boy has one consoling thought for his best friend:

OSCAR, SOMETIMES WHEN WE'RE IN MY ROOM PLAYING,
I FEEL LIKE I ALREADY KNOW WHAT YOU'RE SAYING

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Karen Kaufman Orloff's new Talk, Oscar, Please! (Sterling, 2011), written in catchy rhyming verse and illustrated by Tim Bowers (illustrator of Andrew Clements' best-seller Dogku) tells the tale of a little boy and his best friend, one story that dog-loving kids will sit and stay for.