Flawed Dogs

November 24, 2003
In this outwardly glib paper-over-board catalogue of homeless dogs, Breathed (Edwurd Fudwupper Fibbed Big
) comments on people's mistreatment of animals. Trouble is, Breathed's flippant satire and visual hyperbole make an odd fit with his devotion to a worthy cause—the book may be best suited to adult dog lovers. According to the introduction, Piddleton, Vt., "Pop. 327 (People: 243)," is home to activist Heidy Strüdelberg, who once named a "shivering three-legged streetdog" best in show at Westminster and then founded the Last Chance Dog Pound, to give "the doomed and most desperate... a final try at getting adopted into a world that worships perfection." But that's all in the fine print. To a casual browser, the book is a rogue's gallery of unlovely pets. Barney, a tattooed hound, sits sadly at the grave of his departed owner, "Leo 'Nardo' Davinski, 1922–2003, Tattooer to the Angels Now." Pepe, a cross-eyed Chihuahua, thinks he's as handsome as Richard Gere. Other charmers are flatulent or stick their heads up their owner's nostrils. Every spread includes a full-page color portrait, opposite which is a black-and-white mug shot picturing the lonely animal in a gray cement cell. The sentimental concluding image, a glowing Piéta
holding a bandaged dog, laments that "Some live without love.../ That's
how they're flawed." Despite this pro-adoption plea, none of the unfortunates finds a home, and the vaunted Piddleton shelter (if indeed it is the one pictured) looks as lifeless as a tomb. All ages.

Starred review from November 1, 2009
Gr 3-6-This chapter book is a spin-off of Breathed's 2003 picture book of the same name (Little, Brown). Sam the dachshund was bred to be an award-winning show dog, right down to his priceless "Duüglitz tuft." But Sam has no interest in appearances; like all dogs, beautiful or "flawed," all he really wants is to belong to someone special, and to be loved. After a dramatic escape from his frightful new owner, he sneaks into a girl's luggage and soon wins her affections. But Cassius, a champion full-size poodle and denizen of Sam's new home, is not accustomed to being second in anyone's heart and is determined to get rid of him. What follows is a series of misadventures for Sam and a group of abandoned animals from the National Last-Ditch Dog Depository. Featuring some harrowing moments, this is not a story for the faint of heart, but readers will definitely be rooting for Sam and his comically imperfect band of followers. Black-and-white and full-color illustrations, done in the award-winning author's familiar style, are sprinkled throughout, adding depth to an already engaging and well-paced tale."Jessica Marie, Renton Public Library, WA"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2009
Grades 4-6 After forging a brilliant career as a cartoonist, most notably with Bloom County, Breathed applied his well-honed artistic skills to picture books and now takes his first stab at novel writing. His worldview of the lovable loser skewering pomposity is a natural fit for middle-graders, as is the dog-centric nature of this tale. The plot follows Sam the Lion (actually a dachsund), admired by dog-show types for his rare genetic tuft of hair, who is cast out by his adoptive family due to the machinations of a jealous poodle. Over the next few years, any number of terrible/zany adventures befall Sam (including losing a leg and having a soup ladle tied on in its place) before hes reunited with his owner and justice is done. The story is essentially an animated cartoon in prose form (complete with a mutts-piled-on-top-of-each-other-dressed-as-a-human gag), but Breathed proves an able writer, laying on plenty of over-the-top ebullience that should perk the ears of kids inner underdog. A bevy of Breatheds signature bulbous illustrationsa few in coloradd some body to the story.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)

July 20, 2009
Bloom County
cartoonist Breathed (Pete & Pickles
) makes the move from picture books to middle-grade fiction and, from the harrowing opening scene at a dog fight, readers will be rapt. After spending eight years isolated at a boarding school in Minnesota, 14-year-old orphan Heidy McCloud is invited to live with her dejected uncle Hamish, greedy Mrs. Beaglehole and their evil poodle, Cassius, on the vacant McCloud Heavenly Acres dog ranch in Piddleton, Vt., “Home of the World's Most Beautiful Dogs.” En route, Heidy meets Sam, a Duüglitz dachshund worth $180,000, and a reciprocal, platonic love is born. However, Cassius resents the attention Sam receives and sets a trap resulting in the dachshund's imprisonment in a pound with “the seven most ridiculous dogs had ever seen,” as well as Sam's suffering an awful injury. But the dog's determination to reunite with Heidy doesn't wane. Dramatically lit and featuring comically exaggerated characters (human and canine alike), Berkeley's b&w artwork augments the story's drama and humor. A moving tale about the beauty of imperfections and the capacity for love. Ages 8–12.

January 1, 2010
Cartoonist Breathed offers another take on his picture book Flawed Dogs with this tale narrated by dachshund Sam. Sam is blamed for an attack on a baby, escapes torture at a research lab, survives a dog fight, and ultimately returns to his beloved Heidy. The plot line is jerky and disjointed, with cartoon-character bad-guys and little emotional resonance.

(Copyright 2010 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)