Hitching A Ride?Two Dogs On A Trike by Gabi Snyder

ONE DOG STANDS ALONE.

At least that's what he thinks, as he eyes a small poodle pedaling his tall trike by the gate. But there's someone else, unbeknownst, eyeballing the scene from the window, someone with a definitely slitty feline eye.

The tall dog hops onto the back of the trike as the two roll down the sidewalk, all unaware that the cat is on their trail on silent cat feet.

The two join a chubby dog on a scooter. It's three canines on one scooter with one fast feline on skates in hot pursuit, and soon the three dogs join a dachshund on his snug two-seater bike, unaware that the wily cat is following on a feloniously captured skateboard.

FOUR DOGS ON A BIKE!

WAIT! There's a trolley with a Chihuahua conductor! Surely that will leave the cat in the dust!

FIVE DOGS ON A TROLLEY!

But, no! Can a trolley outpace a cat in a race car? No, it can't. The dogs raise the ante! All six canines take the train, while the cat rides on top! Can they fool the feline by jumping on the ferry? Foolish dogs! Their feline pursuer spots them with a spyglass from a sub!

The canines commandeer an airplane, but the cat follows in a chopper! The hapless hounds and their pilot pug hop into a hot-air balloon that's handy, but the cat has a firm hold on a helium balloon and is hot on their trail! Egads! Is there no escape from this cat, even in a flying saucer soaring in space?

TEN DOGS.... WAIT!

Who is that feline figure in the last seat? Can it be ... the CAT?

It's time for a countdown as the dogs reverse the trip, taking each means of transport, with the cat following suit, from ten down to one, with the cat matching his mode of transportation to theirs until they are back to where they started. Well, almost. (The cat finally finds a feline friend to share a ride with him.) It's up to ten and down again, in Gabi Snyder's clever cat and dog confrontation via transportation, in her new Two Dogs on a Trike (Abrams Appleseed Books, 2020).

For early childhood learners this book has it all--rhyming words, counting practice, and the fun of learning about all sorts of vehicles, from recumbent bicycles to unicycles, from trains to planes. This one does double duty as a beginning reader as well as an early counting book, and there are plenty of comedic details in Robin Rosenthal's clever illustrations, with a wide range of dog breeds to identify to boot. Way to GO, Gabi Snyder!