Bark, George - Hardcover

Feiffer, Jules

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0062051857 ISBN 13: 9780062051851

Publisher: Michael di Capua Books, 1999

Synopsis

Named one of 100 Great Children’s Books by The New York Public Library and #9 on School Library Journal’s list of the Top 100 Picture Books!

From acclaimed author-illustrator Jules Feiffer, Bark, George is a hilarious, subversive story about a dog who can't . . . bark! This picture book geared for the youngest readers is perfect for those who love Mo Willems's Pigeon series.

When George's mother tells her son to bark, George goes "Meow," which definitely isn't right because George is a dog. When she asks him again, he goes "Oink." What's going on with George? Readers will delight at the surprise ending!

Plus don't miss Jules Feiffer's wonderful new follow-up: Smart George!

ALA Booklist Editors’ Choice | Maryland Children’s Book Award | Parents’ Choice Silver Honor | Keystone to Reading Book Award (Pennsylvania) | Georgia Children’s Picture Storybook Award | Flicker Tale Children’s Book Award (North Dakota) | Florida Children’s Book Award | Charlotte Zolotow Award Honor Book | Buckeye Children’s Book Award (Ohio) | Arizona Young Readers’ Award | ALA Notable Children’s Book

“Feiffer’s characters are unforgettable…the pictures burst with the sort of broad physical comedy that a lot of children just love. It all makes for a witty, laugh-out-loud play on the old favorite about the old lady who swallowed a fly.” —ALA Booklist *(Starred Review)*

“Young readers will roar with laughter at this slapstick farce.” —School Library Journal *(Starred Review)*

About this title

About the Author

Jules Feiffer has won a number of prizes for his cartoons, plays, and screenplays, including the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning. His books for children include The Man in the Ceiling; A Barrel of Laughs, A Vale of Tears; I Lost My Bear; Bark, George; and Meanwhile... He lives in Richfield Springs, New York.

In His Own Words...

"I have been writing and drawing comic strips all my life, first as a six-year-old, when I'd try to draw like my heroes: Alex Raymond, who did Flash Gordon, E. C. Segar, who did Popeye, Milton Caniff, who did Terry and the Pirates. The newspaper strip back in the 1940s was a glorious thing to behold. Sunday pages were full-sized and colored broadsheets that created a universe that could swallow a boy whole.

"I was desperate to be a cartoonist. One of my heroes was Will Eisner, who did a weekly comic book supplement to the Sunday comics. One day I walked into his office and showed him my samples. He said they were lousy, but he hired me anyway. And I began my apprenticeship.

"Later I was drafted out of Eisner's office into the Korean War. Militarism, regimentation, and mindless authority combined to squeeze the boy cartoonist out of me and bring out the rebel. There was no format at the time to fit the work I raged and screamed to do, so I had to invent one. Cartoon satire that commented on the military, the bomb, the cold war, the hypocrisy of grown-ups, the mating habits of urban young men and women: These were my subjects. After four years of trying to break into print and getting nowhere, the Village Voice, the first alternative newspaper, offered to publish me. Only one catch: They couldn't pay me. What did I care?

"My weekly satirical strip, Sick Sick Sick, later renamed Feiffer, started appearing in late 1956. Two years later, Sick Sick Sick came out in book form and became a bestseller. The following years saw a string of cartoon collections, syndication, stage and screen adaptations of the cartoon. One, Munro, won an Academy Award.

"This was heady stuff, taking me miles beyond my boyhood dreams. The only thing that got in the way of my enjoying it was the real world: the Cuban missile crisis, the assassination of President Kennedy, the Vietnam War, the civil rights revolution. The country was coming unglued, and my weekly cartoons didn't seem to be an adequate way of handling it. So I started writing plays: Little Murders, The White House Murder Case, Carnal Knowledge, Grown Ups. All the themes of my comic strips expanded theatrically and, later, cinematically to give me the time and space I needed to explain the times to myself and to my audience.

"I grew older. I had a family and, late in life, a very young family. I started thinking, as old guys will, about what I wanted these children to read, to learn. I read them E. B. White and Beverly Cleary and Roald Dahl, and, one day, I thought, Hey, I can do this."

"Writing for young readers connects me professionally to a part of myself that I didn't know how to let out until I was sixty: that kid who lived a life of innocence, mixed with confusion and consternation, disappointment and dopey humor. And who drew comic strips and needed friends—and found them—in cartoons and children's books that told him what the grown-ups in his life had left out. That's what reading did for me when I was a kid. Now I try to return the favor."

From the Back Cover

"Bark, George," says George's mother, and George goes: "Meow," which definitely isn't right, because George is a dog.

And so is his mother, who repeats, "Bark, George." And George goes, "Quack, quack."

What's going on with George? Find out in this hilarious new picture book from Jules Feiffer.

Reviews

PreSchool-Grade 2 What's to be done? When George's mother tells him to bark, the puppy meows then quacks, oinks, and finally moos! Like any good mother, the canine marches her son to the vet, who sets right to work. Reaching deep down George's throat, the vet pulls out a cat! But this does not solve the problem, and the doc continues his hilarious extractions. Deep inside his patient, he finds a duck, a pig, and even a cow. At last, when all are removed, George utters an "arf." Young readers will roar with laughter at this slapstick farce with simple line drawings, set against pastel backgrounds, which convey a full range of emotions. But the loudest laughs will come from the readers who share their lives with dogs. When the pup leaves the vet and joins the crowds of people on the street, his mother proudly tells him to bark. George's answer? "Hello!" No surprise to any dog owner who knows what's really deep inside that furry body. Barbara Scotto, Michael Driscoll School, Brookline, MA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In just a few pen strokes and just a few words, Feiffer (I Lost My Bear) outlines the playful scenario of a puppy who cannot say "arf." The images are striking, with no background details or props but the unobtrusive text. In the initial spreads, a big dog and a little one face each other from opposite sides of the book: "George's mother said: 'Bark, George.' George went: 'Meow.' " As George proceeds to quack, oink and moo, his dismayed mother grimaces and puts her paw on her head in the classic gimme-a-break gesture. She takes her afflicted son to a veterinarian, who snaps on a rubber glove and decisively repeats the title command. This time, when the pup meows, "The vet reached deep down inside of George... And pulled out a cat." Feiffer reverses the old-lady-who-swallowed-a-fly plot and boosts the giddiness with every barnyard animal removed from tiny George. The pen-and-ink close-ups of the dogs and vet are studies in minimalism and eloquence, and the characters' body language registers intense effort and amazement. Rather than being black-on-white, the illustrations get a boost from cool pastel hues. This pairing of an ageless joke with a crisp contemporary look will initiate many an animated game of animal sounds. Ages 2-6. (June)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

When measured against some of the glitzy picture books the year has produced, this one looks plain. There are no details to break up the flat colors used on the background. Even the characters are simply drawn, colored shapes determined by thick, black lines. But oh, the expression Feiffer manages to coax out of a few keen strokes. George's mother wants George the puppy to bark. When he meows instead, she scolds him: "No, George. Cats go meow. Dogs go arf." But George can't seem to get it right--first quacking, then oinking, and finally mooing, as his mother becomes increasing distraught. Eventually, it's off to the vet, who literally gets to the bottom of things when he pulls an amazing assortment of beasts out of unsuspecting George's open mouth. What happens next is a wonderful surprise. Feiffer's characters are unforgettable, the text is brief and easy to follow, and the pictures burst with the sort of broad physical comedy that a lot of children just love. It all makes for a witty, laugh-out-loud play on the old favorite about the old lady who swallowed a fly. Stephanie Zvirin

PreSchool-Grade 2-A lovable pup tries to bark, but all that comes out are other animals' sounds, until a cathartic trip to the vet unleashes the problem. A pack of fun, with droll illustrations and deadpan text. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Michael di Capua Books
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0062051857
• ISBN 13: 9780062051851
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Feiffer Jules
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32