Rosa: Perpetual Motion Machine

Wreaking havoc in the lives of her new family with her love for biting legs, tearing trousers, and digging holes, Rosa the dog has a terrible day when she breaks away from her hated leash and gets caught in a thunderstorm.

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, MN
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ages 3^-7. Like many a puppy before her, Rosa is exuberance personified: she knocks children over, turns somersaults, and bites "everyone as hard as she [can]." When she isn't chewing chairs, she's digging holes, munching on stray spiders, and trying to make friends with an older dog, Pim. Despite all that energy, she hates taking walks, and when she breaks free from her leash, she becomes lost and scared. Whether readers find Rosa exhilarating or horrifying will depend a lot on how they feel about dogs, but in either case, Lindgren captures the puppy stage with zesty humor. Eriksson, who collaborated with Lindgren on the popular Sam series of board books, catches Rosa's perpetual motion with comic flair, including many funny details for young readers to spot. Susan Dove Lempke