LUCYâS LANE | Kirkus Reviews
From the One and Only series
, Vol. 2
Katherine Applegate
;
illustrated by
Patricia Castelao
RELEASE DATE: May 5, 2020
With Ivanâs movie out this year from Disney, expect great interestâit will be richly rewarded.
Tiny, sassy Bob the dog, friend of The One and Only Ivan(2012), returns to tell his tale.
Wisecracking Bob, who is a little bit Chihuahua among other things, now lives with his girl, Julia, and her parents. Happily, her father works at Wildworld Zoological Park and Sanctuary, the zoo where Bobâs two best friends, Ivan the gorilla and Ruby the elephant, live, so Bob gets to visit and catch up with them regularly. Due to an early betrayal, Bob doesnât trust humans (most humans are good only for their thumbs); he fears heâs going soft living with Julia, and heâs certain he is a Bad Dogâas in ânot a good representative of my species.â On a visit to the zoo with a storm threatening, Bob accidentally falls into the gorilla enclosure just as a tornado strikes. So thatâs what itâs like to fly. In the stormâs aftermath, Bob proves to everyone (and finally himself) that there is a big heart in that tiny chestâ¦and a brave one too. With this companion, Applegate picks up where her Newbery Medal winner left off, and fans will be overjoyed to ride along in the head of lovable, self-deprecating Bob on his storm-tossed adventure. His wry doggy observations and attitude are pitch perfect (augmented by the canine glossary and Castelaoâs picture dictionary of dog postures found in the frontmatter). Gorilla Ivan described Julia as having straight, black hair in the previous title, and Castelao’s illustrations in that volume showed her as pale-skinned. (Finished art not available for review.)
With Ivanâs movie out this year from Disney, expect great interestâit will be richly rewarded.
(afterword)
(Fiction. 8-12)
Pub Date: May 5, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-299131-7
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020