What Is Mr. Winkle?

Publishers Weekly

This campy photo gallery depicts a fuzzy miniature dog, Mr. Winkle (a familiar sight to many from his calendar, Web site and many media appearances), with his Chihuahua's rounded cranium and a tongue too long for his mouth. He wears various disguises (a fez, a satin smoking jacket) and poses in low-budget tableaux (a green shag rug to imply a grassy yard, a toy rowboat to suggest the high seas). Each ultra-kitschy studio portrait speculates on the title question. The caption "A Bowwow Ballerina?" accompanies a shot of Mr. Winkle in a pink tutu, and "A bedroom slipper?" refers to a retouched photo where his awkward, undersize body morphs into woolly footwear. In a foreword that simply adds to the enigma, Regan explains how she found her unusual pet while "lost in an industrial area" of L.A. ("This muddy, tattered little creature hobbled straight into my arms") and why she made him her model ("His power to heal, enchant, and entertain was too overwhelming to keep to myself"). Her photographs, in which Mr. Winkle uncannily resembles a plush toy more than a live animal, combine the sugary sweetness of Anne Geddes's baby pictures and the creepy ambiguity of William Wegman's images. A final snap of Mr. Winkle sans costume declares him "The cutest dog in the universe!" but that precious answer is not quite in synch with this weird, slightly surreal set of pictures. Ages 4-up. (Oct.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Children's Literature

A ghost? A stuffed animal? A hamster with a perm? Just exactly what is Mr. Winkle? Readers of all ages will enjoy the color photography of Mr. Winkle dressed in a variety of costumes—as a bumblebee, a ballerina, an angel. However, the reader is not entirely sure of what or who Mr. Winkle is until the end of the book. The author is an award-winning photographer, and is well known for combining beauty with humorous social commentary. She adds her own fascinating story of how she found and became the owner of Mr. Winkle. She felt he was too enchanting not to share through her photography, and I think readers will agree. 2001, Random House, $14.95. Ages 2 up. Reviewer: Cheryl Peterson

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 2-Magazine photographer and guardian of Mr. Winkle, Regan lends her skills to the set design and layout of these highly stylized, and occasionally bizarre, images of her dog. With his various disguises, some of which may be familiar to those who have seen the calendar, Web site, posters, etc., each page offers a possible answer to the question posed by the book's title. The suggestions vary from the saccharine "Angel" to the funky, diabolic "Devil." While many of the pictures are undeniably adorable, including the "Bumblebear" cover photo, the "Bowwow Ballerina," and the "Ancient Koala," others are simply weird. The page with "A Hamster with a Perm?" shows the dog with pink, heart-shaped, cat-eye glasses, complete with rhinestones, on a pink treadmill with pink curlers on a pink ground and backdrop. On the opposing page the dog is "Perry Winkle," a debonair pooch in smoking jacket on a divan with a martini. Some of the images will be hard to explain, such as Mr. Winkle as "A Hallucination?" a photo complete with psychedelic background and the dog in funky shades. Although some kids will be fascinated by the variety and quality of the photos, the whole is a bit surreal.-Piper L. Nyman, Fairfield/Suisun Community Library, Fairfield, CA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.