Where Bone? by Kitty Moss (review)

Balthazar the pup wakes up with a start, disturbed by an important question: "Where bone?" He dashes off to find it, first checking the yard ("Balthazar bury bone?"), then frantically tearing up the house in his search, eventually flooding the place as he searches the bathroom ("bone take swimmies?"). Finally he discovers it in the very bed he left ("Dearest sweet bone") and settles down for a snooze in the shambles of a home. Irish author/illustrator Moss gives Balthazar an appealing neo-doge idiolect that will be pure kibble to perform aloud, and adults and kids alike will relate to the frantic search for the item that was never really lost in the first place. The enhanced watercolor illustrations suggest a splotchier, furrier David Shannon in their eager embrace of chaos, making Balthazar an unidentifiable mess of a dog from the start; discerning viewers will enjoy catching (upon paging back, if necessary) the bone peeking out from behind his pillow all along and the helpful mice who arrange things to make the bone more visible. Aside from the antic joy of sharing, there's high potential for "Where bone?" to become a defusing catchphrase for misplaced bedtime blankies and stuffies.