Review by Booklist Review
In a rollicking story, a dog promises to be on his very best behavior, If my mistress will PLEASE give me a bone! After a shopping trip, his owner teases him with a carrot, broccoli, squash, and peas but finally indulges him with a bone. Told by the dog in a bouncing rhyme, the narrative builds to a conclusion that children will gleefully anticipate. The cartoon-style art, created with crayon on brown paper bags, is chock full of bone motifs in everything from earrings and blouse patterns to clouds and shoe buckles, and the pictures find hilarity in all the goofy antics of the purple-haired mistress and her bug-eyed dog. The large size of the illustrations and the buoyant rhyme make this an ideal read-aloud at storytime or any time.--Perkins, Linda Copyright 2007 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
With his heart-shaped nose, huge, faux-innocent eyes, squat yellow body, and a single-mindedness bordering on obsession, Wood's (Silly Sally) titular hero just about sums up what can make a dog so endearingly goofy. "Mistress, kind mistress,/ please give me a bone," he pleads, "and I'll stay by your side,/ no more will I roam." And becoming a homebody is only one of the promises the dog makes: he also forswears all bad behavior and offers to do light housekeeping (the pictures show him inadvertently causing messes as he performs his chores). Wood works in crayon on brown paper bags, media well suited to her simple vocabulary and knowing visual humor; her picture of the dog festooning the powder room (and himself) with tissue paper offers the cartoon canine equivalent of the classic hand-in-the-cookie-jar expression. Her text has a few oddities. The dog narrates in present tense ("What's that? Woof!/ Could it be her car door?") while his mistress's speech is quoted in past tense (" `I'm home!' she called"). A refrain-like variation on "If my mistress will PLEASE give me a bone!" switches the text into third person and can also bring the pleasing rhythms Wood has built to a sudden halt. Ages 3-5. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-With good humor, Wood offers a rhyming text in which a pooch begs his mistress for a bone, making all sorts of exaggerated promises, such as, "I'll answer your phone. I'll treat you like a queen on a throne." When the woman leaves in her car, the pup feels abandoned and gets into an incredible amount of mischief. Then, in a teasing mood, she returns and finally makes the dog's day. Jovial, cartoonlike illustrations, drawn using crayons on brown paper bags, create a comfortable, homelike atmosphere and perfectly capture the animal's antics and expressions. Endpapers pick up the bone motif. The large text and the simple vocabulary make this a picture book that young readers can manage on their own. Filled with child appeal, it's sure to be a winner.-Blair Christolon, Prince William Public Library System, Manassas, VA (c) Copyright 2010. 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 Kirkus Book Review
What does dog need? Wood creates an appealing, crayon-colored, cartoon dog on grocery-bag paper, who promises to sweep, answer the phone and treat his owner like a "queen on a throne," which rhymes with what he entreats for with all his being, expression sincere and appealing. High comic energy suffuses the roly-poly dog, whose sweeping, phone answering and other services make a royal mess. His unwavering focus enumerates all the minor wrongs he will never perform again, if only: never to chase the cat, dig up flowers and unroll all the toilet paper. All the while, he's demonstrating what he will not do again. The rhyming rolls off the tongue, begging to be recited, yet for the "poor dog" there are no real bones in the house, just teasing reminders, as just about everything in the house is decorated with them, including mistress's earrings, hair clip, dress and shoes, to name a few. Children will enjoy looking and finding bone shapes everywhere and will hope that his mistress will give him more than the offered carrot, broccoli, squash and peas--from endpapers to endpapers, a most satisfying well-earned bone. (Picture book. 3-5) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
