As I read HOT DOG!, I felt my mom peering over my shoulder. I heard her calling to “fire up the grill” or “throw another log on the fire”…because there was nothing she loved more than a hot dog cooked over a flame, it’s skin lightly charred in places, a little crackly, and then tucked into a bun with a smear of ketchup. That was it. Oh, and a Coke to wash it all down. My mom has been gone for almost 18 years, and she’s still hovering, wanting to know why I don’t cook more hot dogs. I miss her. So this week, I’m featuring this book in her memory.
Hi, I'm Frank de Weinerdog, your official hot
dog historian, here to tell you about my all-time
favorite food:
hot dogs!
If you think hot dogs are bun-derful
you're not alone.
Frank is the perfect narrator for this food-filled, punny tale, as we will see. And we are about to find out just how “not alone” hot dog lovers are—at least in the U.S.
In the United States, people (and their pets!)
eat about twenty billion hot dogs each year,
making them an all-American food. Place those
hot dogs end to end and you could encircle
Earth about seventy-five times.
Astounding! How could we possible eat so many hot dogs??? How does that leave room for anything else?
Come to find out, hot dogs are the result of human ingenuity—discovering how to preserve meat before refrigeration. But the hot dog, as we know it, is about 500 years old! And, not surprisingly, of German origin. Aha! That explains our tour guide!
When Germans immigrated to the U.S. in the 1800s, they brought along their frankfurters AND their dachshunds (Frank explains that he’s a “dox-hoondt”!). Soon German street food venders were hollering “Come and get your red hot dachshund sausages!” because the food looked so much like their dogs…But that was more than a mouthful to say, so it was shortened to “Come and get your hot dogs!”
Readers learn about the evolution of the bun, how hot dogs became a ballpark sensation, an essential cheap food during the Great Depression, and how Eleanor Roosevelt served them to British royalty at the White House. My mother would approve.
Hot dog eating contests are also described, a fun gatefold compares the number of hot dogs it takes to span the length of a dachshund, a variety of toppings receive their moment in the sun, and the many different varieties of hot dogs that can be found today are also featured. Y’all, I’m getting hungry!
Salerno’s illustrations add humor and historical flavor to the text. And the end papers showing dachshunds, hot dogs, and condiments are the perfect book “bun.” Van Zandt’s back matter adds a timeline, recipe for making curly snake dogs, author’s note, hot dog science and math facts, brief hot dog-related vocabulary, and additional sources.
I predict that kids will devour this book from cover to cover!
Activities:
With the help of an adult, make the curly snake dogs from the recipe in the back matter.
Make an origami dachshund.
Watch this Science Channel video about how hot dogs are made.
Title: Hot Dog! The History of America’s Favorite Sausage
Author: Christine Van Zandt
Illustrator: Steven Salerno
Publisher: Odd Dot, MacMillan 2026
Ages: Elementary school
Themes: hot dogs, dachshunds, U.S. history
For more perfect picture book recommendations, please visit Susanna Hill’s website.
Hah! Looks like a really fun book. Will have to check it out.
It is fun! And I loved the learning about the regional versions.
Dogs and hot dogs! Yes please! Fun fact, when I was a child and my family would go out for ice cream, we’d go to a place that also had hot dogs and I would get a hot dog instead of ice cream because. I didn’t really like ice cream. I still don’t.
Ha! Does that mean you like all savory things better, or just prefer hot dogs to ice cream?
My foodie grandson will love this! Thanks for the recommendation & the great review. I just pre-ordered it for his upcoming June birthday.
Yayyyy!!! I hope he makes the curly snake dogs!
This book sounds yummy!
It is!!! Especially when served with the works! (But don’t tell my mom.)
How fascinating to learn about the connection between hot dogs and dachshunds! This book looks like fun–thanks for the recommendation!
Something I think that kids will love (and laugh about)!
With yellow mustard, sauerkraut, and jalapeños, please!
Ha! I find myself craving hot dogs….
Hot Diggity Dog this looks like a fun title! Thanks for putting it on my radar. We love a good hot dog in Wisconsin!
Ha! That is music to my ears! Hot dog lovers unite in reading this book!…and in eating hot dogs, however you like them dressed.
Christine did such a great job with this book. What a great narrator. I think kids are going to love it.
Jilanne! Now I’m hungry for hot dogs! Thanks for sharing a lovely memory of your mom, and this fun book!
LOL, I’ve been craving them ever since I wrote this post. I think it’s time to fire up the grill!