Champ and Major: First Dogs

by Joy McCullough, Sheyda Abvabi Best (Illustrator)

Overview

A picture book about Champ and Major, President-elect Joe Biden's two adorable dogs! Major will be the first shelter dog in the White House, and Champ can't wait to show him around.

Champ and Major's dad, Joe Biden, just got a really important job: He's going to be the new president of the United States! Champ is excited to go back to the White House—he got to visit it when his dad was the vice president, before the family adopted Major, and he knows about all the important work that happens there. Major is going to be one of the first rescue dogs to live in the White House, and Champ can't wait to show his little brother around. Soon, Champ and Major will be in their new home, and they're going to bring a lot of fun with them!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593407141
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	01/19/2021
Pages:	24
Sales rank:	668,043
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 11.10(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	AD550L (what's this?)
Age Range:	2 - 5 Years

About the Author

Joy McCullough writes books for kids and teens. Her debut young adult novel Blood Water Paint (Dutton/Penguin) was longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, and won the Washington State and Pacific Northwest Book Awards. Her next young adult novel, We Are the Ashes, We Are the Fire, is coming from Dutton on Febuary 9, 2021. Her debut middle grade novel, A Field Guide to Getting Lost (Atheneum/Simon & Schuster), was a Junior Library Guild selection. Her picture book Harriet's Ruffled Feathers (Atheneum/Simon & Schuster) is coming in 2022. She studied theater at Northwestern University, lives in the Seattle area, and is human to Australian Shepherd Athena.

Sheyda Abvabi Best is an artist at a Kansas City-based studio, where she illustrates, designs product, and sculpts. She earned her BA in Illustration at Bethany College, and lives with her husband and very fluffy cat.

Editorial Reviews

2020-12-28
Two German shepherds take on the very important job of keeping their newly elected “dad” from working too hard.

As the Bidens’ dog since vice-presidential days, Champ knows his duties well and readily assumes new ones when Major arrives—first teaching the rambunctious shelter pup how to behave at home and in public and then, after the election, taking him on a tour of the White House. The low-saturation, generic, sparsely detailed cartoon illustrations look as whipped out as the blandly minimal narrative, which is so simple caregivers may need to fill in quite a lot for little listeners—like what is the job Champ and Major’s dad does that’s so tiring. Only one scene, of Biden addressing reporters with Vice President–elect Kamala Harris at his side, includes human figures wearing face coverings to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Still, the newest first family is at least recognizable, and Abvabi Best also gets the dogs’ coloring right as well as populating the backgrounds with a diverse cast (including an Obama-era flashback of the African American first couple next to the White vice-presidential couple). If her final view, of the canines snuggled down in the Oval Office, is a bit speculative (not to say idealized), it does bring the double tribute to a cozy, companionable close. A closing timeline of U.S. presidential pets and a note on the histories of the two dogs and information about shelter pets in general add a few morsels of fact to chew on. (This book was reviewed digitally with 8.5-by-22-inch double-page spreads viewed at 79% of actual size.)

A superficial tail wagger, but it’s good to see the White House going to the dogs literally again rather than otherwise. (Picture book. 5-7)

Kirkus Reviews