September 2, 2024
“People. Bugs. Birds. Forks. Spaghetti and meatballs. You name it. Sad was all over the place,” writes Joyce (A Bean, a Stalk and a Boy Named Jack) at the start of this far-out and furry picture book. What’s more, there’s a single cause: Snarly McBummerpants, a grumpy figure whose hat puffs out the poo-shaped “Mopey Smoke” that’s bringing everybody down. The world needs a cuteness infusion stat, and it arrives in the form of a quintet of preternaturally adorable pups, each wearing a hug-fueled rocket pack. “AWWWWWWWWW!” sigh the world’s residents. The puppies and their powers are such effective mood-elevators that “they could even make everyone love sharing the last piece of pizza!” But though the pups easily dispatch the Mopey Smokes, Snarly McBummerpants prompts the puppies to bring out their secret weapon: a palm-size canine called Tiny Brad. Following a duel on the Island of Woe, Tiny Brad deploys a single nose-lick that transforms the situation. With his signature retro flair and his tongue firmly in cheek, Joyce has crafted a parable for our times, whose optimistic silliness should prove as potent a pick-me-up as a puppy’s nose-lick. Human characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 4–8.
September 1, 2024
Can flying puppies, fueled by people's hugs, save the world from gloom? Light-skinned Snarly McBummerpants is busy sending out Mopey Smokes (evil-looking dark brown clouds) from his volcano on the Island of Woe to create a sad state of affairs. But the caped puppies, each equipped with a rocket and hailing from "the outer reaches of NOT-FROM-HERE," use their abilities to conquer the morose McBummerpants and bring happiness back to everyone's lives. The meticulously detailed illustrations carry the story, dark colors turning to rainbow hues and frowns turning to smiles. From Big Brad to Tiny Brad, the smallest, most powerful puppy, who "[licks] a kiss right on the tip of Snarly McBummerpants's nose," these absolutely endearing pooches elicit a universal "AWWWWWWWWWW!" from all who encounter them. Joyce's witty illustrations depict diverse children and adults who appear to hail from different decades. Two teenagers wear the bobby socks and saddle shoes of the 1940s and '50s and sit atop a retro soda cooler. Other kids ride the skateboards of a later era. Laurel and Hardy, classic movie performers who may need introduction, are amusingly pictured as bullies turned florists (a little odd, since only Hardy bullied Laurel). Even McBummerpants seems reminiscent of an old-time movie villain. The text is less inventive than the pictures, but the message of good over evil is always timely. Powered by whimsy and nostalgia, a doggone adorable tale of superheroes transforming the world for the better.(Picture book. 4-7)
COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
November 1, 2024
Preschool-Grade 2 Snarly McBummerpants doesn't like anything, and he wants everyone else to be as miserable as he is. His volcano puffs out smoke that spreads bad moods across the planet, and everyone seems destined to join Snarly in his endless unhappiness. Help arrives in the form of a dog house-shaped rocket ship containing the titular Rocket Puppies, who descend via hug-fueled jet packs to give everyone a much-needed dose of cheer. Everything is adorably affected: bees stop stinging, bullies become florists, and rain never falls at recess. Only Snarly McBummerpants is immune, so the dogs deploy their secret weapon, "tiny brad," the teeniest puppy of them all. It's a standoff, but tiny brad's final trick proves powerful enough to turn Snarly into a sweetie pie. The satisfying story is an absolute tonic, filled with enough joy to melt even the unhappiest hearts. The silly yet sophisticated illustrations have a dreamy retro quality that will delight both young readers and their grown-ups. Prescribe this puppy-packed picture book as an ideal antidote to a bad mood.
COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
January 1, 2025
Mid-century aesthetics, dreamlike storytelling, and meticulous craft combine to create a peculiar tale of good versus evil. Thanks to the aptly named Snarly McBummerpants -- a six-legged humanoid clad in a tie and bowler hat -- the "world got stuck being sad." The villain's minions, the solid but smog-like Mopey Smokes, travel far and wide to ruin everyone's moods; that is, until the arrival of the Rocket Puppies in their doghouse rocket ship. These pint-sized heroes turn bullies into florists, befriend giant sea serpents, and chase away the Mopey Smokes. An epic showdown between the Rocket Puppies and McBummerpants leads to the villain's first-ever laugh and a complete about-face. The surreal narrative possesses an uninhibited stream-of-consciousness quality; however, the highly rendered illustrations appear carefully planned and precise. The book follows a general layout of an all-white page featuring a sentence or two of text (with the occasional spot illustration) accompanied across the gutter by a full-page illustration. A brisk rhythm keeps the purposely nonsensical plot moving, yet lingering on or returning to each illustration greatly develops the overall narrative. Joyce's inclusion of numerous breeds of dogs, individualized jetpacks for each Rocket Puppy, and fairly obscure (for young readers) pop-culture references (e.g., Laurel and Hardy) provide much to appreciate and discover. A puppy-powered romp. Patrick Gall
(Copyright 2025 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
Starred review from December 30, 2024
Gr 1-3-Cuteness alert! In a tale that should probably come with a cautionary label, Joyce introduces a squad of button-eyed, space-traveling puppies exuberantly riding jet packs to the rescue, "ruff-ruff-ready to use their super Rocket Puppy powers," against arch-meanie Snarly McBummerpants-a multi-legged scowler in a tailcoat and very high trousers, who has so swathed the world in aggressive globs of Mopey Smoke that even the meatballs are sad of face and down in the dumps. But can even heart-melting "Puppy-Ray Vision," which is capable of instantly turning gloom to glee (and a pair of bullies bearing a strong resemblance to Abbott and Costello into florists) while driving the Mopey Smoke away, prevail against the glowering uber-grump? Time to call out the "big guns," meaning the tiniest puppy of all, little Brad, for a nose to nose, mite to monster, staring contest. Who will prevail? The pages are filled with clouds of giggles and glitter rainbows, with puppies rocketing around to a general chorus of "AWWWWWWWWWW!" Young audiences will certainly chime in. VERDICT A "fetching" tale from the reigning master of retro-themed whimsy.-John Edward Peters
Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
January 1, 2025
Mid-century aesthetics, dreamlike storytelling, and meticulous craft combine to create a peculiar tale of good versus evil. Thanks to the aptly named Snarly McBummerpants -- a six-legged humanoid clad in a tie and bowler hat -- the "world got stuck being sad." The villain's minions, the solid but smog-like Mopey Smokes, travel far and wide to ruin everyone's moods; that is, until the arrival of the Rocket Puppies in their doghouse rocket ship. These pint-sized heroes turn bullies into florists, befriend giant sea serpents, and chase away the Mopey Smokes. An epic showdown between the Rocket Puppies and McBummerpants leads to the villain's first-ever laugh and a complete about-face. The surreal narrative possesses an uninhibited stream-of-consciousness quality; however, the highly rendered illustrations appear carefully planned and precise. The book follows a general layout of an all-white page featuring a sentence or two of text (with the occasional spot illustration) accompanied across the gutter by a full-page illustration. A brisk rhythm keeps the purposely nonsensical plot moving, yet lingering on or returning to each illustration greatly develops the overall narrative. Joyce's inclusion of numerous breeds of dogs, individualized jetpacks for each Rocket Puppy, and fairly obscure (for young readers) pop-culture references (e.g., Laurel and Hardy) provide much to appreciate and discover. A puppy-powered romp.
(Copyright 2025 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)