Different Drummer Dogs: Gaston by Kelly DiPucchio

MRS. POODLE ADMIRED HER NEW PUPPIES--FIFI, FOO-FOO, OOH-LA-LA, AND... GASTON.

A doting mama, Mrs. Poodle thinks her four pups are perfect. And being a good mother, she begins to teach them to behave as proper poodles do.

Fifi, Foo-Foo, and Ooh-La-La are perfect little fluffy teacup poodles, cute and diminutive, and they take to dainty ways like ducks to water.

"SIP, NEVER SLOBBER! YIP, NEVER YAP!"

But Gaston doesn't do dainty with ease. If his sisters are petite teacup pooches, he's more like the teapot.

Mrs. Poodle loves all her pups, and gently she praises Gaston for trying so hard to emulate his refined sisters, even if he is, well, rather big-boned for the breed. And Gaston tries his best to fit in with his super-civilized siblings. Mama Poodle is satisfied and proudly takes her litter out to the park to show off their good manners and elegant carriage.

But there she meets another new mother, Mrs. Bulldog and her four youngsters. Three of them are properly brawny and brash, tumbling and wrestling, and, it must be said, slobbering quite a bit in the process. The fourth pup sits sedately and demurely and frankly looks exactly like Fifi, Foo-Foo, and Ooh-La La.

Obviously, there has been some mixup in the canine nursery. Gaston is clearly like Mrs. Bulldog's three, and her Antoinette is obviously a dead ringer for Fifi, Foo-Foo, and Ooh-La-La. It seems that a a puppy exchange is in order, so Gaston goes home with Mrs. Bulldog and Antoinette leaves with Mrs. Poodle. Now everything is in order.

Or is it?

Nature or nurture? Nurture seems to be winning out here. Gaston can't help yipping politely, and eschews joining his brothers in being "brutish or brawny or BROWN!" Meanwhile, Antoinette is a little bored and put off with being "proper, precious, and PINK!" None of poodle girls will tussle with her. The two are just not quite a good fit with their look-alike siblings, despite the obvious family resemblance.

Luckily, Mrs. Poodle and Mrs. Bulldog are empathetic mothers, and seeing that Gaston and Antoinette have acquired different styles from their original families, arrange to a second swap for the misplaced pooches. But time spent in the two families has given Antoinette and Gaston a broader view of how the other half lives, and when they grow up and marry, they have the perfect precious and brawny, pink AND brown pups who fit right in with both families.

Kelly DiPucchio's brand-new Gaston (Atheneum Books, 2014) is a delightful doggy tale of finding the perfect blendship of family styles. Her narrative is crisp and wry, and artist Christian Robinson follows through with classy illustrations done up in an apt blend of style and media that echoes the premise of DiPucchio's story.  This gentle theme offers a lot of insight into what makes us what we are while dishing up a delightful mix of appealing pooches that kids, especially those who are a bit different from their siblings, will laugh over and love.

Nature or Nurture: Antoinette by Kelly DiPucchio

Mrs. Bulldog watched her puppies race through the yard.

(Ridiculously cute, aren't they? But please don't tell them that!)

Mrs. Bulldog knew (as mothers do) why each of her puppies was special. Rocky was clever! Ricky was fast! Bruno was strong!

And Antoinette? Well, unlike her burly brothers she still hadn't quite discovered what she was good at.

"Chin UP!" barked her mother. "You have something extra special! I can feel it in my bones"

Antoinette, a svelte, lithe, and dainty little poodle among her brawny brothers, feels as if she doesn't quite belong in her muscular family and is not totally reassured by Mrs. Bulldog's promise. Still, she is able to forget herself in the daily romp in the park with her brothers and their playmates, a dog family that is the mirror image of her own--three dainty poodle siblings--Fifi, Fou-Fou, Ooh-La-La--and the one sturdy bulldog Gaston.

But one day little Ooh-La-La goes AWOL from the group.

"Where is Ooh-La-La?" Mrs. Poodle asked frantically.

The playdate in the park turns into an instant search party. Clever Rocky spots footprints. Quick Ricky races to follow them around the lake. Strong Bruno leaves no boulder unmoved. But Ooh-La-La is not to be found. Ah, mon dieu! No one knows what to do.

Antoinette felt a tug in her heart and a twitch in her nose.

Following her nose down the Paris sidewalks, Antoinette takes charge, leading them through the busy streets to the Louvre Museum, where heedless of the grumpy guard she sniffs and darts through the crowd and discovers quite an unsuspected scene. It seems Ooh-La-La, in her pursuit of butterflies, has followed one to the perilous tippy-top of the statue of Winged Victory. Brava, Antoinette!

All's well that ends well, in Kelly DiPucchio's latest adventure among the ever-popular Parisienne French poodle and French bulldog pups, Antoinette (Gaston and Friends) (Atheneum Press, 2017), with a satisfying rescue and an even more happy ending (no spoiler here) for those odd ones in their families, Antoinette and Gaston.

Author DiPucchio tells this tale with verve and plenty of Gallic panache, and Caldecott-winning artist Christian Robinson's faux naif acrylic paintings portray the oh-so-French ambiance in this lost puppy tale, told en famille in a pastel palette that catches the French street scenes winsomely and winningly, so well done that Kirkus says in their starred review, "Robinson's seemingly simple artwork belies his masterful ability to imbue his characters and the places they live with an authenticity and humanity that move readers beyond the surface of the page."

See the review of Kelly DiPucchio's and Christian Robinson's companion book Gaston (Gaston and Friends)(Atheneum, 2014) here.

Back to School: Dog Days of School by Kelly DiPucchio

CHARLIE WAS TIRED OF GOING TO SCHOOL.

"YOU'RE LUCKY YOU DON'T HAVE GO TO SCHOOL!" CHARLIE TOLD NORMAN.

Charlie dreads the sound of the alarm clock's ringing on Monday morning, while his dog Norman gets to roll over and sleep as long as he pleases. Charlie look out his window and whispers a wish to the first star he sees.

I WISH I WAS A DOG.

In Kelly DiPucchio's funny wish-fulfillment fantasy, Charlie and Norman change places while keeping their own bodies. On Monday Norman jumps out of bed, brushes his teeth, straps on his backpack, and heads off to make the bus while Charlie curls back up in Norman's bed and snores on into the morning. Ahhh!

At school as Charlie, Norman has mixed success with the curriculum. The other kids give him a curious look as he takes Charlie's seat and begins to practice his letters along with them. At art time he carefully sculpts a clay fireplug. At music time he shakes a maraca in the rhythm section, and at storytime, he suffers through boring kitty stories. The other kids don't care for his way of making soccer passes with his mouth, and his teacher gives him timeout for chewing his pencil (and her shoes)!

Meanwhile, Charlie is finding the dog's life not everything it's cracked up to be either. It's boring home alone all day. He eats nothing but dull, dry dog chow and drinks from the toilet, and a trip to the groomer's for a toenail trim, clip, and blow dry makes a morning shower look like fun. And then when he does a little digging in the flowers, he gets himself locked in the laundry room and finds himself, literally, in the dog house, chilling out all night in the chilly backyard. Charlie is ready to return to his old life, but his parent's can't read his notes and don't understand when he woofs his plea.

"Be careful what you wish for" is the popular time-honored premise of Kelly DiPucchio's latest, Dog Days of School (Hyperion Press, 2014). Author DiPucchio and artist Brian Biggs team up to tell this tale, DiPucchio in a deadpan narrative description of events and Biggs using his comic illustrations of Charlie trying to drink from the toilet or fit into the doghouse to point up the obvious humor of this job swap. Kids will sympathize with Charlie's desire to skip school but laugh at his efforts to fit in as a dog, perhaps getting a new perspective on why boys go to school and dogs, well, go outside.

Kelly DiPucchio is the popular author of the best-selling Grace for President, as well as Zombie in Love, Crafty Chloe, and her recent Gaston, another dog identity switcheroo tale.