PETE’S DISAPPEARING ACT
by Jenny Tripp & illustrated by John Manders
In a reverse Wizard of Oz effect, a twister takes circus pooch Pierre Le Chien to Kansas in this amusing sequel to Pete and Fremont (2007). Once again Pete’s huge ego fetches big trouble. After not only biting partner/rival Rita the chimp on the butt during a performance but having an “accidental dental encounter” with the Ringmaster himself, Pete’s act is dropped from the show and he gets the dreaded Silent Treatment from all the other animals. During a subsequent huff-inspired runaway attempt, he’s whirled off, along with Rita, to a farm far from the circus’s comforts. Several comical rustic encounters later, the two set out for its off-season home in Florida—an odyssey that features being rammed by a riverboat, freeing a flock of captured parrots and bringing a trio of ill-intentioned dognappers to justice. Pete’s relentless puffery may get on readers’ nerves, but by the time of his joyful, all-sins-forgiven reunion with the circus, he’s toned it down enough to welcome a new partner, Quackers the dancing duck, to the act. Lightweight fun. (Fantasy. 9-11)