RUTGERS AND THE WATER-SNOUTS

by Barbara Dana ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 12, 1969

Rutgers is a large despondent bulldog who brightens at the discovery of ""the first allover-prickly thing that may be a vegetable that has ever been discovered"" and he names it water- snout. Rutgers' euphoria turns to dismay when the water-snouts disappear; then he and his friends in (ferret messenger) Resnick's Territory in the Pacific Northwest organize a search, stopping to pick up Trippler the white-footed mouse's knapsack on the way. Up to this point the childlike thoughts and words of the animals--repetitious, quixotic, gravely considerate--freshen the whimsy. (Of Rutgers' absorption, his friends ""would say: 'What a-change in Rutgers. What a change since he found those water-snouts. He's happy now. He's a happy dog.) But a felicitous style can't sustain the story through repeated interruptions to retrieve Trippler's knapsack and get lost and found. At last the water-snouts turn up as the porcupines' purported sick relatives, just in time to plug Betty the beaver's threatened dam--which is sabotage: water-snouts aren't useful objects. likely start, a loose thread, a terminal snag.

Pub Date: March 12, 1969

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1969

Categories: FICTION