Review by New York Times Review
ROMANTIC LOVE, platonic love, parental i love - I'd hate to live without any of them.! But dog love took me by surprise a year ago, when it arrived relatively late in life s with Marco, my first dog. So, like many be- í fore me, I became a seeker-outer of dog books. Dog picture books, especially, which are easy to enjoy with or without a child. (If Î you doubt that, please watch the YouTube ( video of Betty White reading "Harry the ¡ Dirty Dog," which has over five million i views.) All animals have lessons for us, but none have as much to show fledgling hu- | mans - and some of us older ones - about finding and losing, playing and working, caring and staying true. And the creators of . dog picture books deliver those while blatantly dialing up the emotions - who can forget the scene in "Madeline's Rescue" where Genevieve gives birth toll puppies? In that grand tradition, these five new books are the pick of the litter. CORI DOERRFELD'S WONDERFUL "The Rabbit Listened" used a stuffed bunny to offer a gentle tutorial in the magic of staying quiet and letting children express what's bothering them, and now in GOOD DOG (HarperCollins, 40 pp., $17.99; ages 3 to 6) She tells a more playful but equally satisfying tale of a stray dog who finds his person in the form of a little girl who has lost her stuffed bear. Each page has just two words, one of them "dog" - "hungry dog," "hopeful dog," "brave dog" - while Doerrfeld's soft, pleasingly round illustrations make clear what's happening. Non-dog owners, beware the page where she turns to her parents and says, "My dog?" ANOTHER KIND of who-rescued-whom Story IS FOUND. (Simon & Schuster, 40 pp., $17.99; ages 3 to 8), by Jeff Newman and Larry Day, a sweet narrative that unfolds through pictures alone, with words appearing only in signs and objects in the background. We see a sad girl looking out the window, and a brown dog wandering in the rain. She takes him up the stairs of her rowhouse. He settles in, and she feeds him from a dog bowl labeled "Prudence"; she's less sure about letting him play with Prudence's ball. On a jaunt to the pet store to buy a new ball, she spots a poster: Someone's looking for the dog she found. She gathers herself and returns him to his rightful owners. On the walk home, a sad bulldog peers out a shelter window, and on the last page we glimpse that dog scampering out of view in her house. The story is so tightly constructed there's almost no room for interpretation, and I like that. The vigorous pen-and-ink art leaves a lot of white space on the page, with just occasional washes of color, adding to a sense that the book is a straightforward puzzle you're solving with visual clues, like the colors of the balls that belong to each dog. Of course, there's an overarching fantasy element - the girl appears to live with no parents and no adult figures intrude on her decision-making. But isn't that one of the best things dogs can give kids, a sense of their own power? THE DELIGHTFUL COMICS-STYLE GOOD ROSIE! (Candlewick, 40 pp., $16.99; ages 4 to 8), written by Kate DiCamillo and illustrated by Harry Bliss, stars a little white and brown terrier named Rosie. She has a pleasant daily routine with her owner, George, but she doesn't have any dog friends, so she's lonely. (You suspect George, a fussily dressed older gentleman with a balding dome of a head, may be lonely too.) One day, George takes Rosie to the dog park, where a St. Bernard named Maurice tries to befriend her. Rosie feels he's too big and loud. Then an irritatingly "small, yippy" dog named Fifi arrives. Again, no. Rosie is lonely even at the dog park. But a mishap occurs: Maurice almost swallows tiny Fifi. After Rosie delivers a strategic bite on the leg, Maurice coughs Fifi back up. She is fine, though her collar now says "Fif." Is friendship possible after all that? You bet! The newly renamed Fif leads the way, asking Rosie directly, "Do you want to be friends with a dog named Fif?" The final page shows a grinning George looking on as the dog friends play - and he's flanked by two ladies who must be the owners of Fif and Maurice. DiCamillo, whose many books include the Newbery Medal-winning "The Tale of Despereaux," packs an emotional punch in picture books, chapter books or novels, and Bliss is a wry New Yorker cartoonist and the author-illustrator of the sophisticated picture books "Grace for Gus" and "Luke on the Loose." Together they've created a remarkable guide to making friends: Be honest and direct about what you want, and don't bite. "Good Rosie!" is divided into eight sections, like mini-chapters, slowing down the pace and making it not just a good read-aloud but a fantastic choice for newly independent readers. MARLA FRAZEE'S LITTLE BROWN (Beach Lane, 32 pp., $17.99; ages 4 to 8), a parable about a dog with no friends who hoards all the toys at the dog park, is an unusual dog book in that it's frankly dark, beginning with the muddy colors and foreboding look of its tall pages. Frazee, the creator of "Boss Baby" and many other brilliantly funny and pointed picture books, is not so much offering a lesson as challenging her audience to do better, be more just and kind, figure out how everyone can get a fair share. The dog named Little Brown begins the book "cranky" and alienated, and at the end he's still cranky and alienated, only he's sitting atop a pile of treasure. Two questions linger: Is he lonely because he's greedy, or is he greedy because he's lonely? And how can we fix a situation like this, where a tyrant calls the shots? "Maybe tomorrow they would know what to do," the book ends. In 2018 America it's hard to take that as hopeful, but I'm trying. IF THE STATE of the world or anything else is putting you in need of a good cry, I recommend Laura Vaccaro Seeger's blue (Neal Porter/Roaring Brook, 32 pp., $17.99; ages 3 to 8). It's another book that uses only two words on each page. This time the phrases all include the word blue - "chilly blue," "true blue" - the better to show off Seeger's thick, brushy art and die-cut holes, which are reminiscent of her Caldecott Honor-winning "Green." Seeger walks you through the life span of a good dog belonging to a little boy who grows to be a man just as the dog passes into the great beyond. (It's a tip of the hat, perhaps, to the folk song "Old Blue.") The ending made both me and my husband cry. Our 8-yearold son seemed unmoved, but that may be because his first dog is still young. Still, his reaction tugged at my heart, making me realize that some day, he'll come back to the book with sadder, wiser eyes. Tempus fugit, but especially, it seems, when you love a dog. MARIA RUSSO is the children's books editor at the Book Review.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [July 11, 2019]
Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* In this companion to her Caldecott Honor Book Green (2012), Seeger reflects on the many shades and emotions suggested by this pigment. Baby blue depicts a sleeping toddler and puppy sharing a blue blanket. A page turn reveals a slightly older preschooler and his dog collecting berry blue fruit. A child's painting of a boy and dog, marred by paw prints, is captioned maybe blue. In later spreads, both youngster and pooch mature, sparking adventures that involve running into the waves (ocean blue), camping out (quiet blue), and a snowy walk (chilly blue). Eventually, of course, old blue / true blue passes away, leaving the teen so blue, until he meets a girl with her own pup, new blue. While story takes a prominent role in this concept book, Seeger has not neglected the artistic details that distinguished her work. The acrylic-on-canvas paintings exhibit a range of styles: from playful (silly blue) to contemplative (midnight blue) to gently combative (my blue, in which boy and mutt each tug at the baby blanket). As in Green, strategically placed die-cuts help to connect the spreads, previewing important features of the next illustration. A story full of heart, this works on many levels, assuring satisfying discoveries with repeated viewings.--Kay Weisman Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Seeger's Green celebrated a single color, and so too does this companion, all the while telling a poignant story. Close-range, canvas-stroked spreads portray the start of a friendship as a golden retriever puppy and a toddler nap on the same blanket ("baby blue"). The young dog and boy romp on the beach ("ocean blue") and sleep together ("midnight blue") as they both grow older, until the boy, now much changed, is seen cuddling his aging dog ("true blue"). When it's time for the two to say goodbye, Seeger shows the young man alone, his head bowed as he sits by the ocean where he and his dog once played ("so blue"). Though things begin to look up in the final spreads, the death is a difficult moment, and readers might find themselves a bit blue. Seeger balances many different picture book elements as she identifies evocative hues for the duo's story, examines common objects such as blueberries and butterflies, and inserts unexpected die-cuts in each page to reveal fragments of the surrounding spreads. Ages 3-6. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3-In her companion to Green, Seeger follows the lives of a boy and his dog, Blue. Beginning with the sleeping toddler and his puppy accompanied by the words "baby blue," the pair is shown growing up together and sharing experiences through all seasons and in all weather. Their various activities include blueberry picking, chasing butterflies, taking snowy walks, and frolicking in the ocean. An azure bandana appears on almost every page, sometimes worn by the boy and sometimes by his dog. The pictures and words will appeal to readers' emotions, including delight, contentment, exasperation, and profound sadness when the youth is pictured holding his elderly dog for the last time. Precisely placed die-cuts lead readers to the next page and the next illustration depicting the pair's devotion. Short, rhyming couplets consisting of two words each scan well and are skillfully conveyed by the acrylic paintings on canvas: "quiet blue/silly blue/stormy blue/chilly blue." VERDICT Though there is sorrow, it is followed by joy in this touching tribute to a heartwarming relationship that will engage readers of all ages.-Maryann H. Owen, Oak Creek Public Library WI © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Inventive author-illustrator Seeger sneaks a story about loss into her celebration of all shades blue--"baby blue," "berry blue"--through a portrait of the happy life of a boy and his dog. We slowly understand that the boy is growing, and so is the dog..."old blue." As in her previous book Green, small die-cuts lead from each richly textured double-page spread to the next. (c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
This companion to Seeger's Caldecott Honor book Green (2012) explores a fresh color's visual and metaphorical permutations.Seeger unfolds the entwined lives of a white boy and a golden Lab, from baby- and puppy-hood through a series of poignant transitions. Cleverly placed die cuts and rhymed, two-word phrases (set in ever crisp Helvetica Neue bold) anchor each double-page spread. To her many-hued blues, some thick with impasto, Seeger adds yellow, sienna, crimson, and green in scenes that transit fluidly among interiors and natural tableaux exploring the sea, a stormy night, a sun-dappled park, and more. At "baby blue," puppy and toddler sleep among blue toys, sharing a small square of blue clotha future neckerchief they'll trade throughout. For "berry blue," boy pulls dog and a berry basket in a red wagon. The phrase "maybe blue" perches on a blob of yellow in the child's vivid self-portrait with pet. (The dog traverses the picture, tracking yellow paint across the deep-blue ground, its die-cut paw prints mixing to make green.) At "very blue" the pair cavorts among blue butterflies, which fill the foreground in huge, delightful proximity. Later scenes depict the Lab's inevitable aging, with the boy sitting ("so blue") on a dock at sunset, his body bent in grief. Last, another transition: meeting a brown-skinned girl and her young sheepdog, the blue scrap now tucked in the teen's back pocket.Sumptuous, stunning, and heart-stirring. (Picture book. 3-7) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
