DOG BLUE

Dunbar gives the tried-and-true Boy Meets Dog story an engaging twist or two. Bertie’s wish for a dog—specifically a blue dog, since that’s his favorite color—translates into pretending to be one himself, before finally coming true. The frisky, four-legged soulmate with whom he hooks up, however, is white with black spots: nearly a reject, until Bertie finds an ingenious solution (think name). Dunbar suspends Bertie, who sometimes looks like an early Sendak child, against blank, pale-tinted backgrounds, using a blue that’s just this side of gray for color highlights; the effect is an informal but elegant simplicity reminiscent of the look in Jules Feiffer’s Bark, George (1999). Young Bertie’s joy comes through loud and clear, and children will laugh to see him, in a closing bit of role reversal, dashing off on all fours to “fetch” a stick while (did you guess?) little Blue looks on. (Picture book. 5-7)