Lulu Walks the Dogs

Lulu still has a world-class case of self-absorption, but her arguing skills have matured a bit since Lulu and the Brontosaurus (rev. 11/10). Since tantrums are "baby stuff," her "sneakier, grown-upper ways of changing [her parents’] minds" now includes wheedling. When this method fails to convince Mom and Dad to pay for -- well, something preposterous that isn’t divulged until the end of the book, Lulu decides to earn money by walking dogs. Her ignorance here is total, but fortunately for her, prissy, way-too-perfect neighbor Fleischman insists on tagging along to provide catastrophe-averting advice. Partnership is eventually achieved, along with a modicum of courtesy and a glimmer of appreciation of their different natures (realistically, friendship remains elusive). This extended comic fable is rife with authorial intrusion: Viorst ensures that readers are having fun, getting the point, and noticing her fictional ploys ("In actual life this almost never could happen. In the stories I write, things like this happen a lot. Deal with it"). Fortunately, these asides really are funny. Smith is in fine form with his pencil illustrations, especially the caricatures of Lola’s three canine charges -- "bigheaded, bad-breathed brute" Brutus, "teeny-tiny white fuzzball" Pookie, and elusive German-comprehending dachshund Cordelia -- and the owners they resemble. joanna rudge long

Self-absorbed Lulu's (Lulu and the Brontosaurus) arguing skills have matured to wheedling. Still, Mom and Dad won't pay for something (that's not divulged until book's end), so Lulu earns money by dog-walking. This extended comic fable is rife with authorial intrusion and funny asides. Smith's pencil illustrations are in fine form, especially the caricatures of canines and their resembling owners.