The team behind Bow-Wow Bugs a Bug brings back their hero in a wordless adventure that's equal parts mystery and farce.
Attentive readers' first clue to the identity of the title's "Nightmare Neighbors" may be found (if not on the endpapers) on the jet-black page facing a peacefully slumbering Bow Wow: three white, sausage-like hooks move across its expanse. Three sets of ears peering over a windowsill into the full-page image of the room where the golden pup naps provide the next hint. Then pandemonium strikes with a turn of the page: one of the white kittens bites Bow-Wow's tail and sends him skyward, and the three kittens steal away with the teal dogbed that matches the pup's collar. Newgarden and Cash use framed images like camera close-ups and cutaway views, moving from Bow-Wow's open-mouthed roar on a full page to a sequence of panels chronicling the pooch's pursuit of the thieves. Views that mimic those seen through a telescope or keyhole help readers understand Bow-Wow's missteps (a flowing teal dress, a burglar's teal loot bag, a teal toilet cover). One of the funniest moments occurs when Bow-Wow at last locates his dogbed, and the recurring tail-biting gag gets a big payoff in the penultimate conflict.
Newgarden and Cash use body language, facial expressions and color to superb effect, building suspense and dishing out humor seemingly effortlessly. Readers will appreciate the fact that, when a real crisis strikes, cats and dogs can band together. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness