“The Real Pooches of NYC.” Privileged professor’s pup Gulliver (who sometimes endures the attentions of well-meaning riffraff who address him as “Gully”) enjoys opera, Prime Premium dog food and his salmon-pink, turquoise-and-silver-studded collar. But when his owner shows a preference for a relationship of the human variety, Gully is sent to live in “shabby” Astoria, Queens, where he is treated like—well—a dog! The supercilious, lap-of-luxury Lhasa apso is devastated, but determined to escape. An unlikely and exhausting series of twists and turns doesn’t end with Gulliver’s dogicidal leap from the 59th Street Bridge, but with even more wild coincidence and a canine-interest story in the (sniff!) Daily News. Seidler’s tale is rife with the risk his characters often undertake in search of honest affection and their rightful places in life. The dog, the professor and Gulliver’s rescuer all come away with altered appreciations and aspirations. Cole’s remarkable pen-and-ink sketches evoke the work of French impressionists and add dimension, wit and wry humor to this far-fetched doggy tail—uh—tale. (Fantasy. 8-11)
