In the fourth installment in Beale and Messer’s (The Adventures of Jack and Rugby: Best Friends, 2011, etc.) children’s book series, two dogs embark on a mountainside adventure.
Canine best-buds Jack and Rugby go on an overnight trip in the mountains, in a story based on a real-life excursion the authors’ families took together. An opening one-page primer on the two dogs, who are based on the authors’ real-life pets, throws their differences into relief: Jack is a trim and adventurous black Labrador, while Rugby is a giant, cuddly poodle with perpetual bed-head. The story, told from the dogs’ points of view, uses straightforward prose suitable for elementary-school readers. It lays out a meticulous plot about climbing a mountain in the California Sierras, with punctuated asides detailing the dogs’ thoughts and movements. As they venture up the trails, they run, climb and swim. The two explorers approach the great outdoors very differently; Jack bounds into streams and lakes at the first opportunity, as Rugby timidly approaches the water, not wanting to get wet. The next morning, when they come upon a sizable lake near the summit, Rugby finally is brave (and overheated) enough to join Jack in the mountain water. Adventures feel less scary with your best friend, the story concludes, before the two head back down the mountain at sunset. Full-size color photos accompany most pages of text, and smaller, framed snapshots of the dogs at play give the story an appealing family-photo-album feel. The narration effectively shows Jack’s and Rugby’s shifting moods and emotions, which give the characters depth. However, it also sometimes distances readers from the camping experience, as they often engage with the dogs’ interior lives, rather than with the simple pleasures of watching dogs at play.
An often engaging children’s story of a rugged, exhausting day in the mountains with two dog friends.
Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2011
ISBN: 978-1935530312
Page Count: -
Publisher: Park Place Publications
Review Posted Online: July 2, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
What if the market was closed when you wanted to bake a pie? You could embark for Europe, learn Italian en route, and pick up some semolina wheat in Italy, an egg in France, kurundu bark for cinnamon in Sri Lanka, and an entire cow in England (butter) before coming home via Jamaica (sugar) and Vermont (apples). The expertly designed illustrations in which a dark-haired lass journeys by various means to these interesting places to get her groceries are lovely and lively, and the narrative, too, travels at a spritely pace. The journey is neither quite logical enough to be truly informative nor quite bizarre enough to be satisfyingly silly, while the rich, sweet recipe that's appended will take some adult assistance. Still, fun. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: May 2, 1994
ISBN: 0-679-83705-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1994
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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