Dog lovers will enjoy the humor and heart in this tale of canine resourcefulness.
A little Yorkie’s determination to join a compassionate family sparks comic chaos in this novel.
Wags, aka “Dog #1827,” is an inmate of the secret puppy mill run by money-hungry Cranky Franky Cruikshank. Seizing an opportunity for freedom, she ends up in the loving arms of the Tiggywiggle family. Even the clan’s patriarch, supposed canine hater Billy, begins to come around when her calming presence stops his thunderous nightly snoring. Wags’ liberty is short-lived when Franky reclaims her to fulfill his plan to breed her as a lucrative source for champion puppies. (The dogs in the puppy mill mourn her return, because if “Wags couldn’t make it out for good, they all wondered if there was any hope for themselves.”) In the satisfying, amusing wrap-up, the villains get their comeuppance, and there is a happy ending for Wags, Franky’s seemingly unredeemable nephew Craig, and others. In her preface, Miller reveals how she was inspired by her own beloved rescue dogs and offers information about the responsibilities of canine ownership, but there’s nothing pedantic about this tale for readers of middle school age and up. It is lively, humorous, and lightly satiric. Wealthy Billy, whose real name is Maxibillion, is the head of a canine food empire and the reluctant host of the annual “Woofstock” dog lovers’ jamboree; the police chief has a drug-sniffing Chihuahua; Felonious Hunk is a piano-playing bulldog; and Franky, a Fix Network fan, and his social-climbing wife are co-owners of Fagin’s Cars for the Stars. The author’s descriptive scene-setting is a frequent pleasure: “The twilight of early evening descended on the prairie. A crescent moon and faint stars began to glitter in the sky….Busy flying insects went about their business with gusto. Occasionally a fish jumping in the lake beyond the house rumpled the waters, and night birds squawked their presence.” Another plus is the empathy Miller conveys for both canines and kindly humans. Craig’s redemption, for instance, and Billy’s love for the members of his family (and their affection for him) are genuinely touching. Both elements balance a liberal use of puns and kookiness that could otherwise sink into preciousness.
Dog lovers will enjoy the humor and heart in this tale of canine resourcefulness.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 103
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: Nov. 5, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come.
Little Blue Truck and his pal Toad meet friends old and new on a springtime drive through the country.
This lift-the-flap, interactive entry in the popular Little Blue Truck series lacks the narrative strength and valuable life lessons of the original Little Blue Truck (2008) and its sequel, Little Blue Truck Leads the Way (2009). Both of those books, published for preschoolers rather than toddlers, featured rich storylines, dramatic, kinetic illustrations, and simple but valuable life lessons—the folly of taking oneself too seriously, the importance of friends, and the virtue of taking turns, for example. At about half the length and with half as much text as the aforementioned titles, this volume is a much quicker read. Less a story than a vernal celebration, the book depicts a bucolic drive through farmland and encounters with various animals and their young along the way. Beautifully rendered two-page tableaux teem with butterflies, blossoms, and vibrant pastel, springtime colors. Little Blue greets a sheep standing in the door of a barn: “Yoo-hoo, Sheep! / Beep-beep! / What’s new?” Folding back the durable, card-stock flap reveals the barn’s interior and an adorable set of twin lambs. Encounters with a duck and nine ducklings, a cow with a calf, a pig with 10 (!) piglets, a family of bunnies, and a chicken with a freshly hatched chick provide ample opportunity for counting and vocabulary work.
Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come. (Board book. 1-4)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-544-93809-0
Page Count: 16
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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