MILTON MAKES A MOVE

A pug has mixed feelings about getting a new home.

Milton, who lives “in a house with a big yard and a lot of other dogs,” has reservations when he learns that he’s being adopted: “What if his new home didn’t have trees to sniff, tasty food to eat, or friends to play with?” He boards a plane and, upon arriving, is met by a slim, bearded, pale-skinned man named Jonathan. (The character shares the author’s first name and appearance.) Jonathan’s home is Milton’s dream house: There are “comfy beds, stinky stinks, and pictures of other dogs everywhere!” Milton detects that, like him, Jonathan is nervous about their new life together, and there’s an off-the-page reason for this: Graziano’s TikTok-famous pug, Noodle, who is the subject of the author’s two previous picture books, died in 2022. (Is the real Jonathan opening his heart to a new, Milton-like dog?) Milton has some shaky moments—a scary thunderstorm, a close call with a skunk—but Jonathan is always there for him. Although readers are told that “adventure after adventure, Milton and Jonathan did everything together,” none of these escapades are dramatized—which may disappoint some. But this is primarily a feelings book, and many youngsters will be sufficiently won over by the small, loving moments in Tavis’ digitally painted, hand-drawn illustrations, which capture a beguiling world in which animals and humans have the same cognitive abilities (e.g., a penguin pilots Milton’s airplane).

Lowkey and sweet.