Overview
Hungry Bridget ate a biscuit . . . a dog biscuit! It tasted good – salty and sweet at the same time – but dog biscuits are meant for dogs, not people. Bridget starts to worry. Are her ears getting bigger? Is she growing a tail? Could she be turning into a dog? In the middle of the night, Bridget is swept off on a joyous romp with a wild dog pack. She has so much fun – until she thinks about leaving her family behind, which makes her so sad that she wakes up immediately, safe and sound in her mother’s arms, and human once again.
Bursting with wild doggy energy, Helen Cooper’s vibrant illustrations make this one of the most original picture books she has created yet. A recipe for Human-Being Treats is included!
Synopsis
Hungry Bridget ate a biscuit . . . a dog biscuit! It tasted good – salty and sweet at the same time – but dog biscuits are meant for dogs, not people. Bridget starts to worry. Are her ears getting bigger? Is she growing a tail? Could she be turning into a dog? In the middle of the night, Bridget is swept off on a joyous romp with a wild dog pack. She has so much fun – until she thinks about leaving her family behind, which makes her so sad that she wakes up immediately, safe and sound in her mother’s arms, and human once again.
Bursting with wild doggy energy, Helen Cooper’s vibrant illustrations make this one of the most original picture books she has created yet. A recipe for Human-Being Treats is included!
Children's Literature
One day when young Bridget is hungry she steals a biscuit. It tastes good, but it is a dog biscuit. Bridget begins to worry when Mrs. Blair tells her that she will turn into a dog. She seems to hear her dog say that she used to be a child before she ate a dog biscuit. At the Butcher's, Bridget tries "woofs," and he calls her a "pup." She begins to wish that she had not eaten that biscuit. At dinner, her dad calls her behavior wild; she gets wilder at bath, bed, and story time. Meanwhile, her mom never seems to notice anything different, but Bridget is regretting that biscuit. That night, however, Bridget wakes up to the call of the dogs to have a night of magical fun and is glad that she ate the biscuit, but then she misses her family and is happy to be back in bed, hugged by her mom, and reassured that Mrs. Blair was just teasing. Cooper's vignette drawings are delightful, sensitive, and useful in bridging the gap between the larger detailed colored illustrations. Her imagination depicts what may well be a magic place for dogs with a great meat pie and raining sausages. A sky explodes across a double page with cubistic fragments. Bridget is an appealing character, as both girl and dog, with a lovable mom in a wildly wonderful tale. A recipe for "Human Being Treats" for the hungry is included. Reviewer: Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz