Rover - Hardcover

Rosen, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385326777 ISBN 13: 9780385326773

Publisher: Doubleday Books for Young Readers, 1999

Synopsis

A little dog becomes the master while a little girl becomes his pet, in this humorous, topsy-turvy tale about role-reversal and friendship.

About this title

Reviews

Kindergarten-Grade 2Rover is a wonderful companionshes a fine friend and fun to play with. So when she wanders away at the beach, what is a dog to do but go find her and bring her home? The canine narrator of this lost-and-found tale begins by introducing the humans he lives with, including the small one he names Rover. Their eating, sleeping, and dressing habits are humorously described from a dogs perspective and their trip to the beach (an enormous sandpit where some of them run around like crazy, and some lie down and pretend to be dead) is a catalog of the foibles of human behavior. When Rovers parents are in a panic over her disappearance, our four-footed hero tracks her downbut only because hes ready to go home. Alls well that ends well, with hugs all around. The furry brown narrator uses a childlike, somewhat staccato style. While his descriptions are wryly humorous, it is the dialogue in balloons that provides the telling contrast with the human take on life; in fact, the humor occasionally requires a more sophisticated audience than the illustrations may attract. The loosely drawn characters and scenery have many amusing details and their naive simplicity contributes to the goofy charm of this book. While best shared one-on-one, this story is also appropriate for beginning readers. Move over Martha and make room for another beguiling canine.Carol Ann Wilson, Westfield Memorial Library, NJ
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In this comical tale, it's the canine narrator who calls his pet human "Rover." Rover and her doting parents (whom the dog names Rex and Cindy) have many unusual customs. At the park, for instance, Rover "keeps losing her ball, but I always bring it back for her" (a thought bubble shows Rex calling, "Fetch boy!"). One day, the family goes to the beach (where "humans rip off lots of their clothes. Then some of them run around like crazy, and some lie down and pretend to be dead"), and Rex and Cindy fall asleep in the sun. When the parents awaken, Rover is missing. Although the unflappable narrator doesn't understand the fuss, he blithely locates the girl. Rosen demonstrates a silly sense of humor as he imagines an animal's logic, and he strongly conveys the parents' anxiety when Rover gets lost, despite some avoidable repetition (the TV is a "loud, colored box," and on the next page, the car is "the family box"). The illustrations, however, are the real draw here. As in his Smile If You're Human, Layton exhibits an intuitive sense of an outsider's perspective. He offers a dry counterpoint to the goofy proceedings with a deliberately clumsy, charcoal-gray scribble that mimics a child's technique. He covers his gestural sketches with wide brushstrokes in a beach-umbrellaAbright palette, making no effort to stay within the lines. The crude, exuberant images mirror the emotional charge of the drama in which the narrator learns to guard his pet. Ages 6-up. (May)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Doubleday Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0385326777
• ISBN 13: 9780385326773
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 26