The Juggling Pug - Hardcover

Sean Bryan is the author of numerous children’s books, including A Girl and Her Gator, A Bear and His Boy, and The Juggling Pug. He works at a New York advertising agency and lives with his wife and son in Darien, Connecticut.

Tom Murphy is the illustrator of numerous books, including four books with Sean Bryan. He also works in advertising. He lives with his wife and two children in Westchester, New York.

PreSchool-K—The pug of the title not only juggles but, when fame overtakes him, his arrogant antics broaden to include a wide range of predictable doggie misbehaviors. When he drives the community to distraction, a young girl calls a town meeting and proposes getting rid of the offending pup. Predictably the dog, suddenly sheepish and repentant, promises to change. His reformation is short-lived as he is soon pooping on the rug again. This is not a real story but rather a rhyming verse that does not always scan (beware when reading aloud). The book is illustrated with bright, bold-lined cartoons in primary colors amid plentiful white space. There are hundreds of picture books about dogs so any new entry into this crowded field must compete. For more engagingly fractious Fidos, try Alice Provensen's A Day in the Life of Murphy (S & S, 2003) or Mark Teague's Dear Mrs. Larue: Letters from Obedience School (Scholastic, 2002).—Kate McClelland, Perrot Memorial Library, Old Greenwich, CT
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.