A celebrity pug wears out his welcome—nearly—in this labored outing from the creators of A Boy and His Bunny (2005). Having learned to juggle, the unnamed dog brings such fame to his small town that everyone puts up with his pooping on rugs, pulling down curtains and other such bad behavior. When one girl finally puts her foot down, he promises to mend his ways in exchange for a hug, gets a second chance...and is last seen sneaking into a house to poop on the rug again. In Bryan’s previous works the premises were silly enough to complement his sing-song style of rhyming, but here it just sounds artificial: “I won’t act like a jerk, / I won’t be such a lug. / I’ll just snuggle and juggle. / C’mon guys, let’s hug!” Next to other literary pugs, such as Nancy Coffelt’s Pug in a Truck (2006) or Dan Yaccarino’s Unlovable (2002), the canine in Murphy’s wobbly-lined sketches looks pale and generic. Truly unlovable. (Picture book. 6-8)
