THE STORY OF HONK-HONK-ASHOO AND SWELLA-BOW-WOW

Cosentino claims this pillow-meets-dog tale to be the result of “49% imagination, 48% inspiration, 3% perspiration,” and those proportions look about right, as the childlike art is all simple, rounded forms and uniform color fields, but depicts an animistic world of stick-limbed figures that will leave young viewers chortling over its quirky turns. Honk-Honk-Ashoo may have a big pillow for a head (over a tiny body), but he shows that he’s all heart by adopting a stray pup, giving her a bath and a name (see title), taking her for a stroll to meet his bottle-shaped buddy Soda and the (literally) bookish Smarty Pants, then getting her a pair of pink bunny slippers just like his before bedding down for the night, “zzzz . . . honk . . . honk . . . ashoo!” A tender tale of togetherness to shelve next to such similar but unlikely partnerships as Lawrence David’s Pickle and Penguin (p. 1003). (Picture book. 6-8)