Ruffles and the red, red coat

PreS-K--Ruffles, a white puppy with personality, sports a black dot encircling his right eye (somewhat resembling Bullseye, the Target mascot). At the book's beginning, nine vignettes show the small canine's antics during his busy day: "howling," "scratching," "fetching," and more. What stops him in his tracks is being outfitted with a new red coat. Since he "does not love" it, the bull terrier slowly but determinedly works until he manages to take it off and walk away, head held high, leaving the red coat in a heap. While he should wear his coat on a cold rainy day, Ruffles refuses. When he and his friend Ruby--who, by the way, is wearing a blue coat--are splashed by bigger dogs, Ruffles is chilled and too upset to play anymore. Ruby comes to the rescue and all ends well. The illustrations, drawn in pencil and colored digitally, are delightful, especially a run of several pages of small illustrations revealing the adorable pup with energy to spare. VERDICT Young children will be entertained by Ruffles, sympathetic to his wardrobe woes, and thrilled to see his relationship with Ruby warm up.--Maryann H. Owen, Oak Creek P.L., WI

A stubborn little dog refuses to wear his new red coat. Ruffles loves canine activities like howling, scratching, fetching, sniffing, chewing, digging, and running. He especially loves playing in puddles. Ruffles does not, however, love his new red coat. He won't wear it, even when it's rainy, cold, and wet. But his pal Ruby wears her new blue coat when they play together in a puddle. They "splish" and "splosh" happily in the puddle until some big dogs splash all the water away--and onto Ruffles and Ruby. Protected by her coat, Ruby wants to continue playing, but wet, cold, mad Ruffles says, "No." Ruby sadly walks away. Then Ruby returns with Ruffles' red coat. Will Ruffles still refuse to wear it or relent? The spare text relies on repetition of verbs addressing Ruffles' activities as well as his repeated no's, making his eventual reversal about the dreaded red coat surprising. With a limited palette of vibrant blue, red, yellow, and green, the simple, lively illustrations rely on neat pencil outlines to portray Ruffles as a perky white terrier and Ruby as an affable gray sidekick who stand out against plain white and color backgrounds as they engage in active puddle-play. Small sequential drawings of Ruffles struggling to wriggle out of and back into the notorious red coat prove priceless, his comic facial expressions and body language telling the whole story. A playful, endearing tale of canine friendship. (Picture book. 3-5) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.