Cuddly Dudley
Although Alborough's illustrations are animated and action-filled, his story of Cuddly Dudley--unlike his clever Where's My Teddy? --seems both hackneyed and predictable. Since this "adorable" penguin's family can't "resist having a huddle and a waddle and a cuddle with him," poor Dudley leaves home to find a spot where he can play without being disturbed. When his siblings follow his "waddleprints" to the cabin, Cuddly Dudley turns away each relative with cartoon-style irascibility; enter a man in a furry parka who chases the put-upon penguin "all around the house and out into the snow," shouting "Give me a cuddle!" When Dudley finally escapes and wends his way home, he and his brothers and sisters have "the best huddling, waddling, cuddling session that they'd ever had. Until . . . "--at the turn of the last page, the Eskimo man arrives and races after them all. With its one-dimensional characters and mass-market style, this penguin tale proves too cutesy for words--and, no doubt, for many tastes. Children's BOMC selection. Ages 3-up.Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.