Mr. Putney's Quacking Dog
Mr. Putney has the bald pate, brushy mustache, and unsmiling stare of a stereotypical schoolteacher--the better to cast deadpan expressions at his oddball collection of animals, from an industrious "boa constructor" to a "clangaroo" that wears cymbals on its hands and feet. Agee (The Retired Kid) arranges this word game so that readers get a question and visual clues, then can identify the creature with a turn of the page. Following an image of a scaly brown critter on a nightstand ("Who wakes Mr. Putney up in the morning?"), Agee introduces the alarmadillo. When a red shellfish splashes Mr. Putney with green soup ("What do you call Mr. Putney's messy lunch companion?"), he presents the slobster. Even wordplay amateurs stand a chance of naming the title's quacking dog (a duckschund who barks--or is that buacks?--"Quarf!"). The visual contrast between the fussy-looking Mr. Putney and the various animal mutants is played up by the juxtaposition of the creatures' irreverent exclamations ("Yo!" shouts the alarmadillo) with Mr. Putney's dry delivery--"Comfy?" he asks the cramel that's shoved into his backpack. All ages.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.