NANNY PAWS

Move over, Clifford the Big Red Dog and Good Dog, Carl: Nanny Paws knows exactly what to do for the kids in her care!

Ally and Mae, elementary-age twins, need never worry about who will wash their faces, clear the table, or walk them to school. Nanny Paws has it all under control. But while the narrator tells the story from the perspective of this energetic pink poodle, the illustrations deliver quite another story. When Nanny Paws does “a little gardening,” the illustration shows her digging a hole in the backyard to bury the twins’ stuffed animal she has just destroyed. Nanny Paws says she keeps busy after taking the twins to school, but readers see her sprawled on her back, paws skyward (muddied from “gardening”), sound asleep on top of an enormous pile of laundry. In every instance, this pampered pooch has a hilariously overinflated sense of her helpfulness, and though the adults in the house, who never make an appearance, might mind her disasters, the twins clearly adore her and sleep every night with Nanny Paws between them. Wahman’s watercolor, pencil, and digitally created images effectively capture Nanny Paws’ perpetual motion and the twins’ adoration of her despite the chaos she leaves in her wake. Ally and Mae have brown skin and wear their black hair in two puffballs.

A delightful tale for dog lovers with less-than-perfect pooches.