I WANT A DOG!

A little girl named Lisa longs for a dog of her own. Lisa’s parents have many solid reasons why a dog won’t fit into their family life, mainly because their apartment is too small for a dog, and they kindly but firmly reject every one of her arguments. Lisa tries to change their minds through her behavior, both good and bad, but her parents won’t budge. Finally Lisa decides to take care of things by putting up signs in a nearby park asking for a dog to borrow. An elderly neighbor immediately brings his dog to Lisa so she can walk little Rollo the dachshund and play with him, and this satisfies her longing in an entirely too-pat ending, given the playful lead-up. The illustrations have a surrealistic, dreamy quality with distorted proportions and muted tones, but Lisa has her own quirky appeal with her flaming carrot-orange hair topped by a newspaper-print bow. The way Lisa solves her problem in a creative and socially acceptable way is laudable, but readers will still wish she’d gotten the dog. (Picture book. 3-6)