Doctor Meow's Big Emergency (Whoops-A-Daisy World)
PreSchool-Grade 1—The author-illustrator ofMr. Pusskins(S & S, 2006) embarks on the first of several upcoming books set in Whoops-a-Daisy World in this story of a feline doctor, a canine ambulance driver, and one particularly silly emergency at Kiss-it-Better Hospital. With thick, curved, sometimes broken outlines, Lloyd's animal faces portray ranges of emotion that belie their simple line, and her scenes are full of whimsical and humorous detail. Unfortunately, the text fails to match the light tone of her drawings. Weighed down by clichéd and didactic superficiality, the plot manages to collect the worst of every patronizing verbal habit an adult might use with a child. Additionally, the quick, marshmallow-sweet resolution of the central conflict—that Tom Cat chased Mr. Bird up a tree and then fell and broke his leg—further mires the book in an emergency even the competent Doctor Meow would be hard-pressed to fix.—Bethany Isaacson, Wheaton Regional Library, Silver Spring, MDCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.