Can Dogs Fly?: 9

The combination of flippant title and technical subtitle presages this pop-up book's imaginative, detail-oriented contents. Fido, a rusty-brown cartoon hound, wants to fly to the moon, and so, one by one, he builds six crafts that might get him there, including a sailboat and spaceship. Vehicle components (wheels, wings, etc.) appear on the left of each spread, while symmetrical, 3-D machines-inflated by tugging on opposing ``wings''-rise up on the right. Fido's wildly colorful inventions, from a bright green locomotive to a gold WWI-style airplane, may not be flight-worthy (the plane's ``wings fall off and it is towed to the junkyard''), but they are cardboard marvels, decorated inside and out. Readers can peek through the turquoise submarine's windows or see fire fighters inside the red fire engine. The volume even offers counting opportunities (the train's ``6 big wheels,'' the ship's ``2 oars'') and well-placed ridiculousness (the rocket requires ``1 zillion bolts'' though the plane needs just ``680 nails''). Fido's engineering takes him to the moon at last; the paper engineering here is out of this world, too. Ages 3-7. (Sept.)