Pepper & Boo: Puddle Trouble

by Charise Mericle Harper

Overview

Charise Mericle Harper (Crafty Cat, Just Grace, Fashion Kitty) delivers another hilarious and charming early graphic novel series starring Pepper and Boo, two darling dogs, and their suspicious housemate, the Cat.

Pepper and Boo are two dogs who like to have fun. The Cat likes to have fun, too, but cat fun is very different from dog fun. Cats can have fun with a newspaper, a bottle cap, an ice cube, and some boxes. Dogs like to have fun by chasing leaves, biting sticks, and licking the grass.

That's not the only way cats and dogs are different. The Cat explains while Pepper and Boo try to find coats so they can go outside on a rainy day. With the perfect coat, cats and dogs can all have fun outside together.

Harper cleverly shifts point-of-view between the Cat and two dogs, creating laugh-out-loud moments through her text and art that younger readers will want to return to again and again.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780759555082
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	10/19/2021
Series:	Pepper & Boo , #2
Pages:	64
Sales rank:	547,419
Product dimensions:	6.75(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	6 - 10 Years

About the Author

Charise Mericle Harper (www.chariseharper.com) has created many books for children, including The Good for Nothing Button!, Cupcake, Go! Go! Stop!, Princess Patty Meets Her Match, and the Just Grace and Fashion Kitty series. Charise lives with her family in Portland, Oregon.

Editorial Reviews

"Harper's artwork, composed of simplified backgrounds and cartoon-cute characters with comically big expressions, is well-suited to the early reader format.... an easy pick for emerging readers."—Booklist

"With a keen sense of pet psychology, Harper presents the two dogs interacting mostly with each other via speech balloons and Cat addressing readers directly with an extremely opinionated and funny monologue. A realistic slapstick tribute to the differences between cats and dogs."

—Kirkus

"Readers will be giggling as they follow the trio in their pursuit of a way to have fun, rain or shine."—SLJ

From the Publisher

08/01/2021

PreS-Gr 2—Rainy weather presents a problem for dogs Pepper and Boo and an unnamed cat. Boo tries enthusiastically to convince the reluctant Pepper to join him outside; meanwhile the cat shares feline facts and provides comic relief (getting their head stuck in a jar, confessing that they sometimes even have fun with, gasp, dog toys). This beginning reader graphic novel uses varying sentence structure and simple repetitive words. The shifts in perspective between the dogs and the cat provide natural pauses, making this an excellent choice for reading in a group. Pepper and Boo's dialogue is placed in color-coded speech bubbles; the cat speaks in plain text on a white background. The comic-style illustrations are reminiscent of "Narwhal and Jelly" or "Pizza and Taco" and feature color-filled line drawings on mostly plain backgrounds. VERDICT Readers will be giggling as they follow the trio in their pursuit of a way to have fun, rain or shine. Purchase where "I Can Read" books are in high demand.—Laken Hottle, Providence Community Lib.

School Library Journal

2021-07-14
One cat and two dogs are faced with a rainy day.

“Twelve paws like to play outside.” But whom do they belong to? Book 2 in the series reintroduces Pepper and Boo, both dogs, who share a total of eight paws. The last four belong to Cat. On a rainy day, both Cat and Pepper would rather stay indoors (though Cat assures readers it’s not from fear of water). And even after Boo lists all the outdoor fun that can be had in the rain, Pepper wants to stay indoors since their thin fur is not warm enough. That’s when Boo gets busy searching for a “fun coat.” One is so tight Pepper can’t move, and another is so hilariously big Boo can’t tell which end of Pepper is which. When at last they find the perfect coat (after Cat reminds readers that “cat fur is perfect”), the dogs discover the rain has stopped and Pepper’s perfect coat is now too warm for a sunny day. With illustrations that show an explosive splash and equally explosive Cat “YEOWR!” the eminently doggy solution to this new problem creates “puddle trouble” for Cat. With a keen sense of pet psychology, Harper presents the two dogs interacting mostly with each other via speech balloons and Cat addressing readers directly with an extremely opinionated and funny monologue. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A realistic slapstick tribute to the differences between cats and dogs. (Graphic early reader. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews