Tag and the Magic Squeaker

by Sam Hundley

Overview

Tag the dog can do all kinds of things with his squeaker ball—chew it, toss it, and especially squeak it. Then one day the squeaker comes to life! Tag is delighted, but the resident cat is suspicious. Where the cat sees a mystery, Tag sees only magic. Which one is right? Tag and the Magic Squeaker, Sam Hundley’s heartwarming follow-up to Gifts of the Magpie (Capstone 2021), is a contest between optimism and cynicism. Hundley’s ability to make art out of scraps is the perfect medium for a book that celebrates finding joy in everyday life and discovering that the power of optimism is magical, indeed.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781684464265
Publisher:	Capstone
Publication date:	02/01/2022
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	1,190,432
Product dimensions:	8.30(w) x 10.30(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	AD460L (what's this?)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Sam Hundley is an American scrap artist who uses found objects that he collects wherever he goes. “Beautiful things are all around us,” he says. “And there’s no limit to what they can become in one’s imagination.” Retired after 39 years as a newspaper artist, Sam now resides in Norfolk, Virginia, with his wife, Lynndale, and their squeaker-loving beagle, Theo, upon whom Tag is based. “Theo is an amazing juggler with his squeaker ball,” says Sam. “But when it rolls under the couch, he howls like a baby until I retrieve it!” (See a photo of Theo on the following page.) Sam’s first children’s book, Gifts of the Magpie, was published in 2021.

Sam Hundley is an American scrap artist who uses found objects that he collects wherever he goes. “Beautiful things are all around us,” he says. “And there’s no limit to what they can become in one’s imagination.” Retired after 39 years as a newspaper artist, Sam now resides in Norfolk, Virginia, with his wife, Lynndale, and their squeaker-loving beagle, Theo, upon whom Tag is based. “Theo is an amazing juggler with his squeaker ball,” says Sam. “But when it rolls under the couch, he howls like a baby until I retrieve it!” (See a photo of Theo on the following page.) Sam’s first children’s book, Gifts of the Magpie, was published in 2021.

Interviews

By the creator of Gifts of the Magpie, which received a starred review from Kirkus;

Editorial Reviews

2021-12-27
A mouse outwits a dog and cat and snags a tasty treat.

House dog Tag loves his well-worn “squeaker ball,” a tennis-ball noisemaker with a chewed-out hole in it. He tosses, dribbles, rolls, and squeaks it tirelessly and mourns dramatically when it rolls under the couch. The cat, meanwhile, smirks and bids the plaything “good riddance!” When a mouse slips inside the ball (this is not shown in the artwork, so children must use their inferencing skills) unbeknownst to the other animals, Tag becomes convinced that the squeaker can talk. The mouse convinces Tag to toss him (still concealed inside the toy) onto the kitchen counter and—without blowing his disguise—rewards both the dog and himself with a snack. The cat is suspicious (“I smell a rat”), but the mouse cleverly manages to escape. This underdog (undermouse?) story about a diminutive hero who gets his superiors to literally play ball with his schemes will resonate with young children, who must answer to the grown-ups in their lives. The three-dimensional scrap-art illustrations, rendered using “dug relics” (metal fragments) from the 1800s, capture the characters’ personalities and nuances of body language to a remarkable degree. The engaging backmatter includes facts and discussion prompts related to the metal art that may inspire children to create their own found-object sculptures.

An entertaining trickster tale brought to life by intriguing artwork in an unusual medium. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews