Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.

Flawed Dogs

The Year-End Leftovers At the Piddleton "Last Chance" Dog Pound

ebook
2 of 2 copies available
2 of 2 copies available
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning creator of "Bloom County" comes the annual catalog of the fictional "Last Chance" Dog Pound, riotously depicting imperfect dogs that are available for adoption. Full color.
  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

  • Formats

  • Languages

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      November 24, 2003
      In this outwardly glib paper-over-board catalogue of homeless dogs, Breathed (Edwurd Fudwupper Fibbed Big
      ) comments on people's mistreatment of animals. Trouble is, Breathed's flippant satire and visual hyperbole make an odd fit with his devotion to a worthy cause—the book may be best suited to adult dog lovers. According to the introduction, Piddleton, Vt., "Pop. 327 (People: 243)," is home to activist Heidy Strüdelberg, who once named a "shivering three-legged streetdog" best in show at Westminster and then founded the Last Chance Dog Pound, to give "the doomed and most desperate... a final try at getting adopted into a world that worships perfection." But that's all in the fine print. To a casual browser, the book is a rogue's gallery of unlovely pets. Barney, a tattooed hound, sits sadly at the grave of his departed owner, "Leo 'Nardo' Davinski, 1922–2003, Tattooer to the Angels Now." Pepe, a cross-eyed Chihuahua, thinks he's as handsome as Richard Gere. Other charmers are flatulent or stick their heads up their owner's nostrils. Every spread includes a full-page color portrait, opposite which is a black-and-white mug shot picturing the lonely animal in a gray cement cell. The sentimental concluding image, a glowing Piéta
      holding a bandaged dog, laments that "Some live without love.../ That's
      how they're flawed." Despite this pro-adoption plea, none of the unfortunates finds a home, and the vaunted Piddleton shelter (if indeed it is the one pictured) looks as lifeless as a tomb. All ages.

    • School Library Journal

      January 1, 2004
      Gr 2-5-A tongue-in-cheek parade of mongrels, mutts, and generally unadoptable dogs fills this catalog of the Piddleton "Last Chance" Dog Pound in Vermont. The introductory pages present a cast of heavily satirized human characters as well as a brief history of the shelter, "where the doomed and most desperate are sent- for a final try at getting adopted into a world that worships perfection." The following pages each feature a sad sack and often bizarre dog-too colorful, too gassy, too long, too hairy, likes to crawl up people's noses-and a brief rhyming verse that describes its unhappy past. The full-color acrylics are rendered with broad exaggeration, dark and slightly sinister tones, and a rubbery suppleness that tends toward the grotesque. A note at the end encourages readers to adopt at local shelters. Adults will best appreciate the satire though older children may enjoy the goofy humor and outrageousness of the poor unwanted pooches featured here.-Marge Loch-Wouters, Menasha's Public Library, WI

      Copyright 2003 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      July 20, 2009
      Bloom County
      cartoonist Breathed (Pete & Pickles
      ) makes the move from picture books to middle-grade fiction and, from the harrowing opening scene at a dog fight, readers will be rapt. After spending eight years isolated at a boarding school in Minnesota, 14-year-old orphan Heidy McCloud is invited to live with her dejected uncle Hamish, greedy Mrs. Beaglehole and their evil poodle, Cassius, on the vacant McCloud Heavenly Acres dog ranch in Piddleton, Vt., “Home of the World's Most Beautiful Dogs.” En route, Heidy meets Sam, a Duüglitz dachshund worth $180,000, and a reciprocal, platonic love is born. However, Cassius resents the attention Sam receives and sets a trap resulting in the dachshund's imprisonment in a pound with “the seven most ridiculous dogs had ever seen,” as well as Sam's suffering an awful injury. But the dog's determination to reunite with Heidy doesn't wane. Dramatically lit and featuring comically exaggerated characters (human and canine alike), Berkeley's b&w artwork augments the story's drama and humor. A moving tale about the beauty of imperfections and the capacity for love. Ages 8–12.

    • The Horn Book

      January 1, 2004
      The cover illustrationa dog with a missing leg using a golf club as a prosthetic limb--sets the mood for this unsettling catalog of "leftovers" from the Piddleton "Last Chance" Dog Pound. Clunky rhymes and purposefully grotesque though skilled acrylics introduce canines suffering from crossed eyes, oversize tongues, and serious flatulence. An illustration mimicking Michelangelo's "Piet" and making a plea for unloved animals makes a discordant conclusion to the book's edgy comic tone.

      (Copyright 2004 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Formats

  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

Languages

  • English

Loading