Kevin Waldron

Harold was a dog who was always hungry. He spent his days eating, taking walks with his human, and dreaming of food. When his sleeping chair is hauled away in a garbage truck one day, Harold pursues, only to find himself lost in the big city, with no breakfast and no idea how to get home. Wandering around, he sees food everywhere, growing ever hungrier. Will he get home? Will he find a meal?

This charming picture-book tickled my funny-bone, and had me rooting for Harold's homecoming (as well as a big meal!). The artwork was created using pen, acrylic and collage, and it was fun to see all the food items incorporated into the buildings, vehicles and gardens that Harold passes. Clearly, this is a pooch with food on the brain! The conclusion, in which Harold returns home, has a good meal, and discovers a new place to sleep (itself incorporating a food item, in the illustration), made for a perfect ending to the tale. Yummmmm... croissants!… (meer)

I liked this book for many reasons. I like that the whole book can be read with excitement because the author uses a lot of exclamation points. For example, “They had just finished breakfast!” and “You could get run down by a rhino tomorrow!” There is at least one sentence on each page that ends in an exclamation point. I like the font of the text; it is very different throughout the entire book. Some words have different sizes, some words are bold, and some words and sentences are completely capitalized. For example, “ You look just fine the way you are. THE ELEPHANTS (larger font and bold) FLAP THEIR LARGE (larger font and bold) EARS AND TRUMPET WITH DELIGHT." The pictures are also very unique and fun to look at, because they are very linear. I also like how he changes the pictures of the animals based on their emotions, making them appropriate to the mood of the story. In the beginning of the book, they think Mr. Peek is saying mean stuff about them and the animals are hidden, and colored with dark colors. In the end, Mr. Peek recants everything he said and the animals come out of hiding and are drawn with bright colors. The central message of this book is that you should not assume anything. Mr. Peek was talking to himself throughout the whole day, and when the animals had overheard him, they assumed it was about them and got their feelings hurt.… (meer)