A celebrity pug wears out his welcome—nearly—in this labored outing from the creators of A Boy and His Bunny (2005). Having learned to juggle, the unnamed dog brings such fame to his small town that everyone puts up with his pooping on rugs, pulling down curtains and other such bad behavior. When one girl finally puts her foot down, he promises to mend his ways in exchange for a hug, gets a second chance...and is last seen sneaking into a house to poop on the rug again. In Bryan’s previous works the premises were silly enough to complement his sing-song style of rhyming, but here it just sounds artificial: “I won’t act like a jerk, / I won’t be such a lug. / I’ll just snuggle and juggle. / C’mon guys, let’s hug!” Next to other literary pugs, such as Nancy Coffelt’s Pug in a Truck (2006) or Dan Yaccarino’s Unlovable (2002), the canine in Murphy’s wobbly-lined sketches looks pale and generic. Truly unlovable. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-55970-874-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Arcade
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2008
The wriggly narrator of Diary of a Worm (2003) puts in occasional appearances, but it’s his arachnid buddy who takes center stage here, with terse, tongue-in-cheek comments on his likes (his close friend Fly, Charlotte’s Web), his dislikes (vacuums, people with big feet), nervous encounters with a huge Daddy Longlegs, his extended family—which includes a Grandpa more than willing to share hard-won wisdom (The secret to a long, happy life: “Never fall asleep in a shoe.”)—and mishaps both at spider school and on the human playground. Bliss endows his garden-dwellers with faces and the odd hat or other accessory, and creates cozy webs or burrows colorfully decorated with corks, scraps, plastic toys and other human detritus. Spider closes with the notion that we could all get along, “just like me and Fly,” if we but got to know one another. Once again, brilliantly hilarious. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-06-000153-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Joanna Cotler/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005
Rylant (Henry and Mudge and the Sneaky Crackers, 1998, etc.) slips into a sentimental mode for this latest outing of the boy and his dog, as she sends Mudge and Henry and his parents off on a camping trip. Each character is attended to, each personality sketched in a few brief words: Henry's mother is the camping veteran with outdoor savvy; Henry's father doesn't know a tent stake from a marshmallow fork, but he's got a guitar for campfire entertainment; and the principals are their usual ready-for-fun selves. There are sappy moments, e.g., after an evening of star- gazing, Rylant sends the family off to bed with: ``Everyone slept safe and sound and there were no bears, no scares. Just the clean smell of trees . . . and wonderful green dreams.'' With its nice tempo, the story is as toasty as its campfire and swaddled in Stevenson's trusty artwork. (Fiction. 6-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-689-81175-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1998
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