Boyohboyohboyohboy!! It's been realllly long since we wrote...my first Christmas and my first snow and my first winter vacation trip to Cape Cod and my first visit to Newport took up so much time! I read so many fun Christmas books with Allison and Rachel (including A Dog's Twas the Night Before Christmas) that I just couldn't pick which ones to share with you, my dear readers. Maybe by next year I'll have a list, rrruff! Oh oh oh! And Happy New Year!!!!!
See? Here I am on my very first real snowy day! What was all that fluffy, wet white stuff? It fell from the sky and then it stuck to my paws and beard when I romped around. Definitely fun to practice being a snow-wolf, tracking icy pawprints and licking up the occasionally tongueful.
Anyway, Allison just started taking a new class at school about kids' books. Her teacher gave her this big list of illustrators to check out. So I decided that we should do some of those books for our next entries! Woof! (Okayokay, Allison - that silly human - bribed me with biscuits...bacon-flavored...mmm...for me to help her with her schoolwork.)
Let's arooooooooooooooo do it! After a cheerful day spent watching Allison and Jacob-Baby paint pictures with their fingers and play with noisy trucks, I am ready for action.
Here's our first one:
Meet...the Boss Baby.
This comical picturebook written and illustrated by Marla Frazee revolves around a little human-pup with a gigantic attitude. The title page sets a movie-like tone, the baby (dressed in what Allison calls a "business suit") glaring at his watch beneath a script pronouncing him the book's "star." The two-toothed baby arrives by taxi and soon is making demands - "many, many demands" - of his "worker" parents. As the author-lady shows the funny similarities between the baby and a high-maintenance business human (his "spa" is a baby-sized bathtub), his parents get more and more tired trying to keep up. (Apparently this human-pup doesn't want to slow down and have a snuggle, silly silly!!)
Overall, I like the pictures, especially the baby's expressions and the details that show that the baby is just a baby (he just THINKS he's the boss). Other interesting details: the setting, clothes, and hairstyles depicted are from the 1950s, according to Allison, and the use of background lines give a sense of movement and energy. I agree about the energy - this book feels fast and busy. Just like the boss baby, who constantly wants attention! Arooooooo! Two up and a tail wag for this one, and great for small human-pups and their own tired parents (whom Allison says will appreciate the truth inherent in the book).
I'm falling asleep on Allison's foot now, so I guess we'll write some more later.
Maybe I can boss my humans around a bit...get a few extra cookies?
Maybe it'd be better to say please and look cute...
Sam I Am
