PERLA AND THE PRINCESS

Perla the dog returns for a third adventure, this time involving a game of hide-and-seek gone awry.

Right off the bat, narrator Perla—who describes herself as “Nico Rico’s guard dog and best friend”—informs readers that she has two superpowers. “Number one: I can make anybody love me. Number two: I can roar like a lion.” Naturally, both qualities will be put to use in this story, which centers on Zorro-loving young Nico’s mad crush on a girl whom Perla refers to as “the Princess,” although readers will see that she’s just a regular kid who enjoys dressing like royalty. Everyone is having fun at a Cinco de Mayo block party when the Princess falls through a trapdoor in the sidewalk during a game of hide-and-seek. Nico tries to rescue her, but it turns out that this is a job for Perla (remember her superpowers?). The story treads familiar territory, and the book’s target readership may not understand Nico’s preoccupation with the Princess. Nevertheless, best-selling Peruvian novelist Allende has created an appealingly wry, confiding, and easygoing storyteller in Perla. Rodríguez’s watercolor and ink illustrations are similarly breezy, sometimes to the point of being proportionally shaky, but the art sure doesn’t lack for festive colors or community spirit. The Princess presents as East Asian. As for Nico, Perla informs readers that “our dad”—meaning hers and Nico’s—is Mexican.

Good dog—and good book.