Chester's Big Surprise

Publishers Weekly

Chester the dog's best canine friend, Tilda, has mysteriously missed their usual play date in the traffic circle. Searching for her, he loses a sandwich to an adversary, revels in pats and rubs proferred by kids in the schoolyard, and steels himself to investigate the spooky dinosaur park (readers can refer to the endpapers, which map Chester's trail). But it turns out that Tilda has been at home all along, tending to the big surprise in the title: her newborn puppies. Newcomer Villet's text just barely moves the story along ("Maybe Tilda's at the shop? Chester looks inside. He looks under the table and between the shelves"). The full-bleed, double-page spreads, however, make more of an impression. Chester's flattened-perspective world is distilled down to bold, chunky shapes and expanses of dense muted colors. As for Chester, he's a comically stolid (except when being tickled), muscle-bound hero, and the patch-shaped spot over one eye gives him a soup on of rakishness. Ages 2-4. (Mar.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Children's Literature

Chester, the dog, is missing Tilda, his usual playmate, and sets about the neighborhood in search of her. He is briefly sidetracked at each location but soon resumes his quest to find the missing Tilda. It isn't until Chester reaches home that he is surprised by the basket full of reasons why Tilda didn't come out to play that day. The story is simple. The naïve illustrations are blocky and basic. The main characters are downright homely. So why do I think toddlers will love it? They will enjoy it because the illustrations are also big, bright and uncomplicated, just like the storyline. An added extra bit of fun is the map of the Chester's neighborhood found inside on the front and back end pages. 2001, Bloomsbury Children's Books, $16.95. Ages 2 to 4. Reviewer: Trina Heidt