Brenda and Edward - Hardcover

PreSchool-Grade 2. Canines Brenda and Edward live in a large cardboard box behind a French restaurant. One day Edward leaves for his job as a night watchdog without his lunch box, and Brenda becomes hopelessly lost trying to deliver it to him. She is eventually taken home by a kindhearted rich woman. Years later, the two dogs are reunited and live together happily again. First published in Canada in 1984, this comforting story of true friendship will delight young dog lovers. Kovalski uses a brief, simple text, filling in the details with softly colored, realistic paintings of bustling street scenes. Children will love poring over the illustrations and identifying the shops that make up the backdrop to the story. Particularly memorable is the picture of the cardboard-box house complete with a crackling fire, cozy armchairs, and slippers. The jacket flap indicates that the story is set in New York in the 1940s, but the time and place are only suggested through the pictures of sleek black cars, women's feathered hats, and the gramophone at the rich lady's house. Warm and reassuring, with a touch of adventure, this picture book is a good choice for lap sharing or reading aloud.?Dawn Amsberry, Oakland Public Library, CA
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Kovalski (Pizza for Breakfast, 1991, etc.) introduces two lovable dogs that live happily together behind a French restaurant. One day, when Edward takes off for work without his dinner, Brenda follows him and gets lost. She takes a scary ride on the subway, then finds herself in a strange neighborhood, where she is discovered and adopted. Sadly, Brenda and Edward are separated for years, but hope lives onEdward's sensitive nose leads him to his companion, and they are reunited in a tender ending. Soft, inviting illustrations brim with magnificent detail and atmosphere. Once readers give themselves over to the hybrid world in which the dogs dwellthey are clearly canine, with doggy features and abilities, but in all other ways act humanthey will relish this two-hankie telling and the tidy illustrations of love lost and found. (Picture book. 3-7) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.