Review by New York Times Review
THE SUBURBAN NEIGHBORHOOD where I grew up had leafy oak trees, manicured lawns and absolutely no fences. Which meant that I, walking to and from elementary school, had to traverse a terrifying half-mile of pet pooches free-ranging themselves from yard to yard, barking, drooling, tail-wagging and scaring the dickens out of me and my Barbie lunchbox. I was (and still might be) desperately afraid of dogs. But that doesn't mean I'm completely immune to their charms. Mabel, the canine heroine of "Naughty Mabel" by Nathan Lane (yes, that Nathan Lane) and Devlin Elliott, illustrated by Dan Krall, tries her best to be as charming as can be. Mabel is a coddled French bulldog living the good life in a schmancy McMansion, enjoying spa days, caviar and licking her privates. Her human parents call her "naughty" for misdeeds as varied as knocking over a vase of flowers and driving a golf cart into a police car's fender. One evening, the rambunctious Frenchie is put to bed so that her people can throw a glamorous soiree. Which, of course, she crashes, to smashing and crashing effect - with tipped tables, shattered dishes and a resounding intestinal eruption that closes down the joint. Her owners forgive her. I don't know why. I honestly don't. Dan Krall's illustrations are charmingly frenetic and cartoony with a palette of turquoise and pink. The big-eyed, huge-eared Mabel is adorably rendered, especially when she's wearing her magenta tutu. She is, at the same puzzling time, a typical dog (see her running with hot dogs in her mouth) and an anthropomorphized child (see her paint over a painting of Marie Antoinette). The artist has a background in animation, and it shows: The page compositions are dynamic, and the book's characters are hilariously expressive. The book certainly owes a debt of tone and structure to Kay Thompson's "Eloise" and, in turn, Ian Falconer's "Olivia." But where Eloise begins her narration, "I am Eloise I am 6," Mabel opens with a less sympathetic "Hello, darlings. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Mabel. Mabel of the Hamptons." And where Thompson's portrait of a singular youngster has, at its heart, a story of a lonely child in an adult world, and Falconer's series is a salute to children's self-determination and imagination, I'm not quite sure what Mabel is trying to say. That it's fun in the Hamptons? That she's a party pooper? For all of Mabel's big-eared visual charm, I couldn't make any real sense of the story. Lazy Dave, in the book of the same name by a debut author and illustrator, Jarvis, is a much calmer pet. So calm, in fact, that he sleeps through practically the whole book. But that doesn't mean a lack of action: Dave is a sleepwalker, and thus, as he sleeps, he manages to have quite the time - chasing cats, walking tightropes, climbing mountains and visiting outer space. He even unwittingly apprehends a jewelry thief and is celebrated by the mayor, all of which goes unnoticed by his young owner. Dave looks a lot like "Harry the Dirty Dog," with his straight head, pert nose and midcentury-modern style. The rest of the art is equally appealing: Jarvis uses a limited color palette, textured shapes, and loose chalk and pencil lines to create a style both simple and sophisticated. Dare I say Oliver Jeffers meets Jon Klassen? I think I dare. And although, at the end of the book, both Dave and his owner remain strangely unaware of his somnambulistic heroics, the story is simply satisfying. The story of "Sad, the Dog," by Sandy Fussell, illustrated by Tull Suwannakit, is one with a similarly satisfying, if even simpler, story. "Sad" is the name of a bulldog puppy whose owners, the crotchety Mr. and Mrs. Cripps, not wanting him in the first place, pack up, relocate and leave him behind. The family who moves into their house discovers poor abandoned Sad and immediately takes him in. Every characteristic that the Cripps had considered a fault becomes, through the eyes of the new owners, a virtue. How lucky! Tull Suwannakit portrays Sad and his surroundings in soft watercolors, resulting in a calm and quiet book. Quiet, but not boring; on each page, small details draw the reader's eyes: a quizzical bird or two, a concerned mouse, a nervous garden gnome, a thoughtful face on a bunny slipper. Sad himself is sweetly painted, but the humans are oddly drawn with unreadable expressions and overly stylized in a way that I found rather disconcerting. The story of "A Dog Wearing Shoes," wonderfully told by Sangmi Ko, cinematically begins before the title page even appears. Mini and her mom find a small stray dog in the middle of a crowded street and decide to take him home. The dog, ahem, is wearing shoes. Mini and the dog have some fun together, but when she takes him to the park for a walk, he runs away, leaving one little yellow shoe behind, like a canine Cinderella. When the dog is located in an animal shelter, Mini finds it in her heart to look for the dog's original owner; the one who gave him shoes, of course. The dog and his young owner are joyfully reunited, and Mini and her mom return to the shelter in search of their own, albeit shoeless, pup. Ko's illustrations are in pencil with tiny pops of color, and adroitly straddle the line between cartoon and more illustrative art, like a drawing by Sempé. The spread where Mini and her mom give up the dog for lost is an emotional scene of long shadows and lonely white space. There's interesting pacing borrowed from sequential comics, and a lovely afterword with information about pet adoption. The dog himself is small, with a sweet face and fuzzy, floppy ears, and is so cute and gentle looking that I might be tempted to swallow my fears and go check out the pups at my local S.P.C.A. But probably not. I'm still a little scared. LISA BROWN is the illustrator, most recently, of "Mummy Cat," written by Marcus Ewert.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [December 6, 2015]
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-Grumpy Mr. and Mrs. Cripps receive a dog for Christmas from a friend. But the black-and-white mutt does nothing to ease their crabbiness. If anything, the dog's presence makes it worse. He is unwanted, although the couple do feed and clean him. They don't give him a name, however, other than Hey, you or Dog. The dog names himself Sad. His beautiful "singing" is seen as yapping by Mr. Cripps, and Sad is scolded. Mrs. Cripps screams when Sad digs in the garden, and when the newspaper gets torn, the pup just lies there being sad. One day the Cripps up and move, leaving Sad behind. He is lonely and howls the night away, but Sad's luck is about to change. The next day a new family moves in, and the young boy, Jack, is excited to see that their new home comes with a dog. Sad is a bit wary, however. Nevertheless, with some coaxing by his new friend-as well as clean water, walks, and treats-Sad is soon running, digging, barking, and playing. He likes his new name, too-Lucky. The watercolor illustrations nicely capture the expressions of the characters in the story-from Sad's dejection to the Crippses' squinty-eyed crabbiness to Jack's delight at meeting his new friend. The layout is balanced, and the book will be easy to use in a storytime setting. VERDICT A sweet, sentimental story and a pleasing supplemental purchase.-Roxanne Burg, Orange County Public Library, CA © Copyright 2015. 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
Mr. and Mrs. Cripps become the reluctant owners of an unnamed dog, who names himself "Sad." When the Cripps move away, leaving Sad behind, the family that moves into the house includes a boy named Jack who loves "Lucky" on sight. Muted watercolors capture a wide range of emotion and personality, both human and canine, in a winsome, winning tale. (c) Copyright 2016. 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
Mr. and Mrs. Cripps are old and mean and do not want the dog a friend gave them for Christmas. They wash the dog and feed him, but they never give him a name. They yell when the dog does normal puppy things like digging in the garden and yapping happily. Then one day the Cripps take all their things and move away, leaving the dog, who has named himself "Sad." The dog is only alone overnight, however, because the next morning a new family moves in, and a boy named Jack does all the right things: careful approach, fresh water, doggie biscuits, soft bed. The dog gets a better name (Lucky), and much joy ensues. The watercolor pictures are done in soft colors and whimsical line. Sad is a black-and-white bull terrier-ish dog, and the human figures have oversized heads and skinny, rubbery bodies; birds, flowers, and autumn leaves make the landscape. The story neatly skirts the issue of animal abandonment and abuse (while Sad is abandoned, it is only for a day, and the Cripps do care for him, in their fashion). Younger children may also relate to Sad the dog's being yelled at for activities that are perfectly natural to him. In the end, though, a pretty naked appeal to sentiment more than a story. (Picture book. 5-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
