Glamourpuss

The eponymous angora, a pampered pet of childless “gazillionaires,” has one job: “to be glamorous, and she was very good at it.” But when a pampered Chihuahua named Bluebelle—who seems to have no compunction about dressing up as Carmen Miranda and Scarlet O’Hara, or doing tricks to get attention—comes for an extended stay, Glamourpuss is nonplussed. Are her diva days over? Or could it be that this rival is, deep down, a soul mate? Weeks’s (Pie) narration is fittingly over-the-top (on one page alone, characters boom, squeal, and drawl) and helps build empathic envy for a character who could otherwise come off as a spoiled brat. But it’s Small’s (Catch that Cookie) exuberant ink line and strategic washes of colors that make this book—he shows that it’s possible to spoof the 1% without eating the rich, all while giving Bluebelle and Glamourpuss outsize emotional lives. Glamourpuss’s darkest moment, which finds her sprawled on a staircase in despair, is worthy of Douglas Sirk, while Bluebelle channels the neurotic energy of Judy Garland. Ages 3–5. Agent: Holly McGhee, Pippin Properties. (Jan.)