A madcap, entertaining escape from reality from the canine perspective.
An imaginative “autobiography” by Leo, a mixed-breed, large-eared dog with extraordinary abilities.
We meet Leo, who at this point is nameless, while he’s riding in a car with Mary, a woman who works with Hoover Animal Control. She rescued him from the road where he landed after he was thrown from a van while it was speeding down a desert highway. The pup has a broken leg and a badly bruised head and is barely conscious when Mary brings him to the vet, Dr. Francis. The trauma of his injuries causes Leo to lose all memory of his life before he was thrown from the van. That night, Birdie, a cat who lives at the veterinary hospital, comes to visit and taunt Leo, telling him they’re going to cut off his leg and his “doodads.” Fortunately, Mary comes to his rescue once again, offering to pay for the expensive orthopedic surgery that will save his leg. So begins Pass’ complex, frequently comedic fantasy, an adventure in which all the animals speak with one another, but they can’t communicate with humans—with one exception. As the story progresses, Dr. Francis discovers he can understand Leo, a revelation that begins to drive the poor doctor mad. After the surgery, Mary brings Leo home, names him Leonardo DiCaprio (aka Leo), and introduces him to the other rescue animals who live with her: Shakespeare, an ebullient pug; Antonio, a loquacious macaw; and Dwid, a one-eyed cat. Shakespeare, delighted to acquire the big brother he’s always longed for, devotes himself to Leo, who gradually begins to recover the skills he’d accumulated during his life before the van. He can read—he loves books—and he’s a philosophical thinker who changes his name to Rousseau, aka Rou. But he has no recollection of his puppyhood. He knows only that he’s different—not quite like any other dog, yet certainly not human—and he’s determined to solve the mystery of his origins. With the faithful Shakespeare by his side, he escapes into the desert, convinced that the bright light in the distance holds the answer.
The author, a former veterinarian, portrays his canid characters (both dogs and coyotes) and cats with an understanding of each species that brings them to life, no matter how far-fetched their capers. He takes readers on a lengthy, complicated, rowdy ride through the desert, to a coyote den, and through a city of lights and fountains. The humans in the narrative have more quirks than the animals, especially Dr. Francis, whom we meet again roaming with a pack of stray dogs. Rou is a stalwart lead, smart as a whip and tenderhearted, and second banana Shakespeare is an endearing, jovial ball of energy. Pass’ novel abounds with witty dialogue, biting sarcasm, and page-turning action. The short epilogue suggests that a sequel may be in the works. Although most appropriate for YA readers, this sometimes overly intricate romp will appeal to all ages.
A madcap, entertaining escape from reality from the canine perspective.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9798989180509
Page Count: 387
Publisher: Thiessen Press
Review Posted Online: April 1, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Fans of Stockett’s bestselling debut will love this engaging follow-up.
Stockett heads to Mississippi for another historical novel about feisty women.
This time, perhaps recalling criticisms of cultural appropriation in The Help (2009), she sticks to feisty white women, with one exception. The setting is Oxford in 1933. For two miserable years, 11-year-old Meg has lived in “the Orphan,” a county asylum for parentless girls. Chairlady Garnett—a villain so one-note she’d twirl a mustache if she had one—makes it her mission to ostracize the older girls she deems unadoptable, stigmatizing them as offspring of the “feebleminded” mothers who abandoned them. She particularly has it in for smart, sassy Meg, who refuses to believe her mother’s mysterious disappearance was deliberate. Elsewhere in Oxford, Birdie Calhoun comes to visit her sister Frances, who married a wealthy banker, to ask for money on behalf of their mother and grandmother back in Footely. Frances isn’t thrilled by this reminder of her impoverished small-town origins. But she’s trying to climb up in Oxford society by volunteering at the Orphan, the asylum’s books need to be done before the state inspector shows up in a few weeks, and Birdie is a bookkeeper. Having neatly arranged to keep Birdie in town and draw these two storylines together, Stockett goes on to spin a compulsively readable yarn with enough plot for a half-dozen novels. Birdie and Meg become friends, Meg is adopted despite Garnett’s best efforts, Meg’s mother turns up at the Orphan demanding to know where her child is—and that’s less than a quarter of the way through a long, winding narrative that keeps piling on more dramatic developments until all loose ends are neatly, if hastily, wrapped up in the final pages. Stockett might be making a point about Southern women facing facts and standing up for themselves, but mostly this is just a satisfyingly twisty tale that should make a great miniseries.
Fans of Stockett’s bestselling debut will love this engaging follow-up.Pub Date: May 5, 2026
ISBN: 9781954118812
Page Count: 656
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
Mostly charming, sometimes twee, with some really lovely things to say about poetry.
And now for some lessons in poetry and typesetting.
After Lessons in Chemistry (2022), a debut that became one of the most popular books of recent years, Garmus applies her unique comic sensibility to the story of Batter Gray, a man named after a family dog of mythic talents. A poetry maven who was reading Auden as a fourth grader, he was raised by a type-designer mother and historian father who dearly hoped he would choose some more viable profession than poetry. But via an amazing stroke of luck, he lands a job after college at Peck & Peck, an illustrious literary journal located in a beautiful building in New York City. He’s at the very bottom of the complex and dysfunctional totem pole, making copies in the basement, struggling not to run afoul of the cantankerous editor-in-chief, Salton Peck, or his smarmy assistant, Dexter York, both of whom have taken an instant dislike to our hero (and can never get his name right. Few people can). And to be honest, Batter is not without his flaws. The novel bogs down a bit in the middle, with Salton constantly excoriating his staff in ALL CAPS and much ado over the possibility that submissions have been taken outside the building, which is forbidden. Along the way, many, many famous poets are name-checked, as are many typefaces, since Batter has been raised to instantly identify a font in the wild. The best example of this occurs during his brief sojourn in jail: “The thing I kind of admired about Motherfucker II, besides his manners, was this huge tattoo he had on his neck that read I will fuck you up in ITC Bolt. Call me my mother’s son, but whoever inked it nailed the kerning.” The narrative picks up steam toward the end, as bad guys become good guys, mysteries are solved, and Batter throws one hell of a party.
Mostly charming, sometimes twee, with some really lovely things to say about poetry.Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9781668251065
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
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