Summary: Bertie, who loves the color blue and really wants a dog, finally gets his wish even though the dog he meets is white with black spots.
Booklist Reviews
PreS-K. Most kid-wants-dog tales involve at least one antipet parent; in this version, adults are left out of the picture entirely. In fact, the author-illustrator of Flyaway Katie [BKL Je 1 & 15 04] leaves most things out of the picture, at least compositionally: there are never more than two or three elements set against the pastel-washed backgrounds. The story line is correspondingly simple. Bertie is a tousled little boy who wishes for a dog in his favorite color (blue). No such luck, so Bertie pretends to be a blue dog instead, cheerfully scampering about on all fours--until a spotted pup arrives on the scene, not blue but perfect all the same. Dunbar makes clever use of page turns, unfolding the story in pithy, alliterative prose: "Blue really loves Bertie. Bertie really loves Blue." In the end, the wish fulfillment is gratifying, but it's Bertie's ingenious self-sufficiency that truly resonates. ((Reviewed July 2004)) Copyright 2004 Booklist Reviews.
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