Little Moon Dog, by Helen Ward, ill. by Wayne Anderson

Little Moon Dog
Helen Ward
ill. Wayne Anderson
Dutton Juvenile (2007)
Picture Books

Have you ever lost your dog? Have you ever looked everywhere for him, missed him, and taken drastic measures to get him home? Then you can probably relate to The Man in the Moon when his BEST friend, Little Moon Dog, runs away. (Wow, so reminiscent of a Reading Rainbow review.)
It's summer time on the moon, time for The Man in the Moon to lock his doors and tuck in to a season of reading because he wants absolutely nothing to do with the strange, summer, up-to-no-good, fickle fairy tourists that visit. Soon, however, Little Moon Dog gets a little bored, sneaks out to play, loses all track of time and finds himself whisked away back home with the STRANGE company. Unfortunately, Little Moon Dog is having too much fun on the nearby planet to notice that his new friends are starting grow tired of him, eventually leaving him to fend for himself. Meanwhile, The Man in the Moon searches high and low for his buddy and comes up with a plan, an adventure "for it was TIME to FIND his friend." Don't worry. Happy endings come bounding of the shady woods and Anderson's stunning artwork leads us HOME.
Although I should be ashamed of myself, I haven't ready any of this duo's other picture books (Tin Forest, Finding Christmas, The Dragon Machine), but if they're anywhere near as captivating as Little Moon Dog, I'm hooked. I adore Ward's whimsical word choices "rhumoonbarb" "seven shades of trouble" and I want to live in the soft glow of Anderson's whirligig-smashed-fairies artwork. This is one of those books where the story steeps in you and dances a bit with art (art, not just pictures) both delicious and charming.

(for Critique's Sake): I must admit I was drawn first by the pictures rather than the story. The capitalizations bothered me and I didn't care for the neat-and-tidy moral of the story on the last page. But I find the more I read and review, the more practical I become. I ask myself "Self? Were those things dealbreakers? Did they ruin the story?" And, in this case, of course it doesn't. I felt for The Man in the Moon and his loss. The capitlizations stopped being annoying and just became playfully off-kilter. These are the things that make for an interesting story that kids will read over and over, not to figure out points of confusion, but to bathe a little longer in the curiosities.

p.s. I love that Amazon links this book with two others I can't wait to read: The Little Red Fish, reviewed by Jules at 7-Imp and On the Wings of Heroes, reviewed by Fuse.