Goosed!

by Bill Wallace, Jacqueline Rogers (Illustrator)

Overview

One dog too many
T.P. is Jeff's dog. Jeff is T.P.'s boy. That's the way T.P. likes it. Life is pretty good — until a stinky, thumping, yapping box turns up at the front door. Jeff's friend Mandy has given Jeff a chocolate Lab puppy. They name her Mocha, and everything changes for T.P. Mocha drives him nuts with her endless chattering and questions. On top of all that, everyone keeps telling him to "be nice to the puppy." If only things could go back to the way they were before....
But when Mocha gets "GOOSED," will T.P. have the courage and compassion to come to her rescue?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780689866814
Publisher:	Aladdin
Publication date:	05/01/2004
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	668,332
Product dimensions:	5.12(w) x 7.62(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	470L (what's this?)
Age Range:	7 - 9 Years

About the Author

Bill Wallace grew up in Oklahoma. Along with riding their horses, he and his friends enjoyed campouts and fishing trips. Toasting marshmallows, telling ghost stories to scare one another, and catching fish was always fun. One of the most memorable trips took place on the far side of Lake Lawtonka, at the base of Mt. Scott. He and his best friend, Gary, spent the day shooting shad with bow and arrows, cutting bank poles, and getting ready to go when their dads got home from work.

Although there was no "monster" in Lake Lawtonka, one night there was a "sneak attack" by a rather large catfish tail. Checking the bank poles was not nearly as fun or "free" after that point, but it was the inspiration for this story. Bill Wallace has won nineteen children's state awards and been awarded the Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award for Children's Literature from the Oklahoma Center for the Book.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 2-4-Told from a bird dog's point of view, this sibling-rivalry story chronicles the arrival and gradual assimilation of a puppy into the family. T.P.'s narration has its funny moments as he pouts, growls at Mocha's incessant questions, and thinks that he has outfaced three coyotes before seeing that he has been rescued by the appearance of Jeff, his boy. The older dog is able to prove himself, however, when a Canada goose tries to attack the swimming puppy and nearly drowns her. Wallace creates plausible doglike thoughts and selects what T.P. is able to comprehend: he can decipher human talk, but doesn't understand telephones, television, or the remote-controlled "magic gate." He has a doggy nose for scents, enjoys marking the territory as he checks out the rural property, and treats the family cat with friendly camaraderie. Some readers may enjoy the budding romance between Jeff and Mocha's former owner, but it's difficult from the text to determine how old these children are. They appear to be about 10 or 11 in Rogers's pencil-sketched illustrations. Less stylish and demanding than James Howe's "Bunnicula" series, this beginning chapter book should appeal to fans of talking-animal stories and those looking for a light and humorous read.-Susan Hepler, Burgundy Farm Country Day School, Alexandria, VA Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

A dog's settled, comfortable life gets a nip in the nether parts after a puppy's sudden arrival. When T.P., named for an incident in his past involving the room with what he calls the "tall, white drinking bowl," hears human buddy Jeff telling his mom and dad about a "chocolate lab" on loan for just a week, honest, he has no idea that the household is about to acquire (permanently, of course, by the end) a new resident for whom the word "frisky" is way too pale. Not only is the four-legged youngster both leaky and ignorant of proper canine protocols, she unleashes a nonstop barrage of irritating chatter--"Are you a dog? You smell like a dog, only not as big or pretty as my mother. Are these your people? Are they going to be my people?"--and claims entirely too much of Jeff's attention to boot. T.P. sulks at first, but it's just not in his nature to stay down for long. After rescuing the newly-named Mocha from being drowned by a wild goose, he comes to terms with his new role as caregiver. Rogers's accurately detailed drawings, replete with smiles and close-ups of the exuberant pup, capture not only the semi-rural setting, but the engagingly doggy spirit of this upbeat animal tale. (Fiction. 10-12)

Kirkus Reviews