Bertie Was a Watchdog - Hardcover

Rick Walton is the author of numerous books for children, including HOW MANY, HOW MANY, HOW MANY, illustrated by Cynthia Jabar; and two books in Candlewick’s Really, Really Bad Jokes series. About BERTIE WAS A WATCHDOG he says, "I like stories where things are not as they seem. A watchdog is usually big and mean. I thought it would be fun to write a story about a watchdog who you discover is not big and mean - who protects not with his bark and his bite, but with his brain."

Arthur Robins has illustrated such books as WHAT USE IS A MOOSE? by Martin Waddell and has also displayed his inimitable humor in the Giggle Club title THE TEENY TINY WOMAN. Arthur Robins says that his biggest challenge in illustrating Bertie Was a Watchdog was to come up with the right-sized dog. As he explains, "My editor said, ‘Draw Bertie smaller. No, smaller - smaller than that. Smaller still. . . . Good, now, where is he?’"

When first seen against a receding cityscape, Bertie the watchdog appears to possess all the looming menace of a modern-day Cerberus. But as Walton (Bunny Day) dryly explains, Bertie was called a watchdog because he was about the size of a watch. Robins (The Teeny Tiny Woman) cheekily reveals that when Bertie is rendered from a less distorted perspective, he's not even pint-sized. What chance does a diminutive dog have against a giant intruder? But when a burly burglar invades his territory, Bertie challenges him to a test of wits. In Robins's gleefully garish, full-bleed watercolor-and-ink cartoons, the robber takes up most of the succeeding spreads even his sausage-like nose is bigger than Bertie. But the canine prevails by conning the ne'er-do-well into a series of contests, the last of which determines who can bark the loudest. The robber's winning ruckus captures the attention of a couple of cops on a fast-food break. I win! is the parting riposte of the triumphant Bertie, now the proud owner of an oversize hero's medal. Youngsters will be won over as well both by the pooch's brainy pluck and the reassuring moral that right can triumph over might. Ages 4-7.
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