In this clever canine caper, Caldecott Medalist Provensen (The Glorious Flight) introduces an irrepressibly rambunctious—and chatty—narrator. Actually, he introduces himself: "Murphy-Stop-That is my name. I am a terrier. I bark./ I bark at anything and everything and all the time./ I sleep in a barn with a dumb cat and a dumb hound,/ and a lot of other dumb farm animals." In a perky, stream-of-consciousness monologue, the pooch describes his daily doings, beginning with scouring the kitchen for bits of breakfast ("Leftovers. Scraps./ The floor! The floor. Nose over every inch"). Provensen's animated oil paintings, filled with playful particulars, follow a kind of time-lapse progression as the hero enters the house through the doggy door and follows various scents until he's shooed back out the way he came, with the assistance of a broom. After licking the leaky pipe under the kitchen sink and savoring the stove's "glorious sounds and smells," Murphy hears honking outside, beckoning him for a car trip. Alas, the pet dislikes both the ride ("Snivel./ Grumble./ Groan./ Are we there yet?") and the destination—the vet ("Oh-oh, it's my turn to be…/ pinched… poked… prodded. Doesn't hurt, but get me out of here!"). A spread of the waiting room depicts an array of furry friends from pups to elderly dogs to a wary-looking cat. Provensen's animated oil paintings follow the amiable, wide-eyed dog through the ups and downs of his day, which ends on a pleasant, predictably noisy note. Ages 3-7. (May)
