Rover - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1408845806 ISBN 13: 9781408845806

Publisher: GARDNERS VI BOOKS AMS006, 2014

Synopsis

A hugely entertaining story about one dog and his owner. When Rover, that's the little girl with red hair, NOT her canine friend, gets lost on the beach there's only one thing for it! Dog to the rescue! Seen from a dog's perspective Michael Rosen, author of We're Going on a Bear Hunt, delivers a brilliantly hilarious take on family life.

About this title

About the Author

Michael Rosen is a bestselling author of picture books and poetry, including the hugely popular We're Going on a Bear Hunt (Walker) written by Helen Oxenbury. Michael Frequently appears on radio and gives talks and lectures on children's literature. Michael was the Children's Laureate for 2007-209 and the winner of the Eleanor Farjeon Award. Michael lives in London. Neal Layton is the bestselling illustrator of many picture books, including the Emily Brown series (Orchard) written by Cressida Cowell and the Oscar and Arabella series (Hodder) that he wrote and illustrated. Neal lives in Portsmouth with his family.

From Publishers Weekly

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: GARDNERS VI BOOKS AMS006
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1408845806
• ISBN 13: 9781408845806
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 32