ARBUCKLE & SLOAN

A lovable dog adopts the attitude and persona of his new feline pal in Trine’s middle-grade novella.

Arbuckle is a perfectly content canine. He’s happy fetching the newspaper for his human, Jack, or sticking his head out of an open window on car rides. But this doesn’t apparently sit well with Arbuckle’s cat neighbor, Sloan. She tells the dog that he doesn’t always have to obey Jack; he can simply say no. Sloan offers this advice more than once, as Arbuckle is easily distracted, but soon enough he takes to ignoring human commands. As Jack worries about his dog, Sloan convinces Arbuckle to explore the “off-the-leash world” outside of his fenced backyard. The more Arbuckle hangs out with Sloan and her feline “gang,” the more he becomes like them—he approaches everything with the typical indifference of cats and even trades his “arfs” for “meows.” Now Jack has a cat, more or less, but he wants his “buddy” back. Is returning to his former doggy ways what Arbuckle wants? In this endearing story, there’s humor aplenty, from Arbuckle’s “out of dog-sight, out of dog-mind” mentality (“Arbuckle was a little confused. Sometimes Jack called him Buddy. Sometimes it was Pal. Now and then Mack… and occasionally Good Boy or Little Fella. But Arbuckle was pretty sure his name was Arbuckle”) to Sloan taking pleasure in leaving hairballs for her human to step on (“Her insides had been busy working up new hairballs. Big slimy ones. She was long overdue to share them with the world”). Along with the laughs, however, are points of identification for younger readers: Arbuckle equates Jack’s commands with rules, and he’s clearly acting out like some kids do. This lighthearted novella takes a scathing view of psychologists; Jack takes Arbuckle to a shrink for dogs who seems primarily invested in the hefty per-visit charge. The final act, though brief, is just as bright and memorable as the multi-species cast.

This delightful, fetching tale will appeal to young dog lovers and cat lovers alike.