Shoe Dog

Shoe Dog has a big problem: his new owner (referred to as “She, Herself”) is a shoe lover, and he’s an incorrigible shoe eater. He’s barely settled in from the animal shelter, when “Shoe Dog chewed through five high heels, four flip-flops, three sneakers, two boots, one wing tip,” reports Judy Moody author McDonald, who last collaborated with Tillotson on It’s School Picture Day! Neither his owner’s repeated cries of “BAD DOG!” nor the thought of being sent back to “the Land of Sad Puppies and Scratched-Up Cats and One-Eared Bunnies” can discourage Shoe Dog’s gleefully relentless footwear search-and-destroy missions. But what if Shoe Dog discovered a shoe of his own—one that brought out his best, kindest instincts? Tillotson’s canine hero is a marvelous creation, conjured up out of swiftly crayoned, coiled black lines and filled in with charcoal smudges; he looks like a tangled Slinky that’s sprouted bright eyes and pink triangle ears. Anyone who’s ever loved a goodhearted but ill-behaved dog will want to eagerly adopt this book. Ages 4–8. (Mar.)