A Promise Is a Promise (review)
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"I'm probably the only kid in the whole world who doesn't have a pet," mourns George, a point that causes his parents to relent and give him pet-acquisition permission. Each time he brings home a prospective pet (a huge dog, a mouse family, and a shark), though, his parents lay down more restrictions. Finally he elicits the firm promise that he can have a bird, but when he brings home the shrieking and disrespectful parrot Horatio (who responds to George's mother with "SHUT UP, YOU BIG BOOB!"), will even that possibility disappear? The plot's a little wobbly (what store is allowing George to drag all these pets back and forth?), but audiences will get a kick out of the adults' getting stuck with the consequences of their own words; diligent repetition and accumulation of parental rules add comic exaggeration to the grownup stuffiness and make it all the riper for puncturing. Auth's ink lines are wiggly and kinetic, with lighthearted touches of springy color adding hue without overbalancing against the open white space of the backgrounds. Pet-yearning youngsters will sympathize with George's struggle, and they'll applaud his victory over legalistic authority.
