Cookie, the Walker

K-Gr 2—Cookie is no ordinary dog. She discovers that if she walks on her hind legs, she can reach the candy dish, turn on the TV, and get lots of attention not bestowed on ordinary quadrupedal canines. All is well until Cookie gets noticed, first by a dog trainer, then a circus director, and finally by a Hollywood producer. They offer her snacks in exchange for increasingly complicated performances-she even gets her own TV show. Exhausted by the demands of fame, the pup realizes, with some help from a friend, that perhaps being a regular dog is best…unless she wants to reach that candy dish when no one's watching. Part picture book with full-page illustrations, part comic book with speech balloons and panels, the story is illustrated in a cartoonish two-dimensional cartoon style. Funny antics abound-Cookie walking on top of a lion statue, across a flaming board over a pond filled with snapping turtles, or saying "Mall Moo Mitt!" ("I'll do it!") through a mouthful of snacks. Cookie is not quite on a par with Susan Meddaugh's Martha, but her fans may enjoy this spunky talking (and walking) dog.—Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, formerly at Chappaqua Library, NY