Poppy the Pirate Dog’s New Shipmate by Liz Kessler (review)

Dalmatian dog Poppy enjoyed a swashbuckling summer with her human family (“She’d found buried treasure with Suzy. She’d worn her skull-and-crossbones scarf and had pirate adventures every day”), but now that everyone has gone back to work and school she’s bored and lonesome. When her family brings home a kitten, George, to be Poppy’s new “shipmate” and “little brother,” Poppy is skeptical. George attacks Poppy’s tail and tries to play with her toys, and Poppy scares George into the garden and onto a lily pad in the backyard pond. Only when Poppy sees how frightened George is does she relent, and when the family returns home that evening they find Poppy and George cuddled together in Poppy’s dog bed. The easy reader/beginning chapter book format, with its heavy, black typeface against plenty of clean white space and the simple sentences and vocabulary, is as inviting as the book’s endearing canine hero, and kids not quite ready for lengthier chapter books will find this title (the second in a series) a fine transitional bridge. Phillips’ frequent ink and watercolor illustrations are lively and entertaining, and although the human figures seem to possess only one facial expression (open-mouthed enthusiasm) and Poppy’s eyes are occasionally a bit hard to distinguish from the numerous black spots on her head, Poppy and orange tiger-striped George are overall a pretty winsome pair. Fans of Cynthia Rylant’s Mr. Putter and Tabby or Henry and Mudge series may find Poppy’s adventures a worthy step up the reading ladder.