Who Wants to Be a Poodle I Don't
Grade 1–3—A silly story with over-the-top collage illustrations. Trixie Twinkle Toes is a pampered, white toy poodle. Her sophisticated owner, Verity Brulée, wears expensive shoes and stays indoors in wet or stormy weather, where she flips through footwear catalogs and Trixie chews on her pink velvet ribbon. The pup longs to run in the park, splash through puddles, and have a real dog's name like Growler or Gripper. Sitting under the dryer at the poodle parlor, she reads an article, "How to Change Your Dog Image," in the latest issue ofPosh Pooch Monthly. It highlights how a scruffy dog is transformed into a tidy pooch in three months, and Trixie concludes that the reverse must also be true. She works hard to become daring and dangerous, sliding down banisters, swinging from chandeliers, and diving into fountains. Verity takes Trixie to a pooch psychiatrist, to no avail. As they head home in the rain, the poodle hears the howls of a small dog drowning in a puddle, wades in (with her mistress close behind), and saves the Chihuahua. After this, Verity ceases to coddle her pet, and on rainy days they go out to mingle with the other dogs. The book's design and layout are extremely cluttered. Busy backgrounds and a text that swirls and curves make the book difficult to read, and the toy poodle is nearly lost in some of the illustrations.—Linda Staskus, Parma Regional Library, OHEND