Rosa: Perpetual Motion Machine
PreSchool-Grade 1?Rosa, a small black-and-white pup, is in perpetual motion. She expresses happiness by running around and biting people. Yet, when she gets lost during a rain storm, everyone from the village heads to the woods to look for her. The loosely structured "plot" consists of a series of vignettes, several of them involving the rivalry and friendship between Rosa and an older dog, Pim. Rosa lets Pim's boy ride on her back and hit her on the head. Pim shows Rosa how to pee like a male dog. Eriksson's illustrations will be familiar to anyone acquainted with Ben and Sam in Lindgren's previous books. What this new title lacks is the sense of unity and underlying humor of The Wild Baby (Greenwillow, 1981). In that book, Baby Ben is every bit as exasperating as Rosa, but the rhymed text flows smoothly, and the plot is anchored in the relationship of mother and child. This title is disappointing and unmemorable.?Kathy Piehl, Mankato State University, MNCopyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.