Bork

If you’re looking for a really good laugh then look no further than this noisy read aloud presentation of an increasing assembly of dogs from around the globe each of which shares in its home language, its own particular ‘bark’, or Bork as the title says.

We hear in turn a woof, a ‘Ouaf Ouaf’ – French I think, the Spanish ‘Guau Guau’, ‘Wau, Wau- – German , the dog from Japan goes ‘Wan-Wan’, that from Belgium greets fellow pooches with ‘Waf Waf’ and finally, the Chinese Mandarin barking canine says ‘Wāng Wāng’. All of these are responded to by the titular ‘BORK’ together with a degree of bemusement or frustration. And you can guess what the blue cat says, which gives the entire dog assortment a wonderful excuse for a canine cacophony chorus in response, though that isn’t quite the grand finale. So now you know, as the penultimate page reminds us, ‘Not all dogs say WOOF.

Along with the onomatopoeic sequence that young children will relish the opportunity to participate in, the other thing that comes from this vociferous presentation is the important truth that it can be challenging to communicate with a speaker of a language different from one’s own, and even more importantly that, ‘there’s more that unites us than pulls us apart.’

A clever premise, a great opportunity for some raucous classroom fun and an important life-lesson delightfully delivered by ten dogs and one bit-part moggy, all courtesy of one playful human author/illustrator.