HARRY AND LULU

PLB 0-7868-2276-7 Yorinks (The Miami Giant, 1995, etc.) captures a child in several deeply recognizable moments: the tantrum, the imaginary journey, the heartbreak of the wrong toy; the delight when it turns out to be the right one. Lulu, who has been whining for a dog, is finally given a toy stuffed poodle, and throws a fit. But one night, after five comic books and a mystery chapter, she discovers that Harry the stuffed poodle can talk. While he won’t eat dog biscuits, he loves pumpernickel bagels. Facing an unconvinced Lulu, Harry says he is going back to France where he came from; Lulu dresses and goes with him. They wander down the street until they come across morning in Paris. Harry rescues Lulu from a crazed French driver and she rescues him from the Seine; cut back to Lulu’s house, where her parents look on happily at the bedtime scene of Lulu and her toy. For Yorinks, that’s an ending that is unequivocably upbeat. Matje’s illustrations are happy, clean-lined, retro scenes, of a world where children and their dogs can go out for an all-night stroll. A Velveteen Rabbit for the ’90s? Not exactly, but it has its moments. (Picture book. 4-8)