BASHFUL BOB AND DOLEFUL DORINDA

First U.S. edition of another alliterative tale from the co-creators of Rude Ramsay and the Roaring Radishes (2004). Here, Bashful Bob, abandoned as a baby and raised by a boxer, a beagle and a borzoi, meets Dorinda, dressed in dust mops and dingy dungarees by despicable distant relatives after her parents disappear. Illustrating Bob’s part in browns and Dorinda’s in dusky purple within the same scenes, Petricic displays the duo becoming bosom buddies who, after drawing a delighted crowd by distracting a desperate but basically benign buffalo, are happily reunited with their respective parents. Though Atwood reaches a bit in spots—“Destiny, however distressing, will not defeat me! I defy despair!” declaims Dorinda at one point—her mini-drama offers champion read-aloud potential. So be bold and don’t delay. (Picture book. 7-9)