LOKI AND ALEX

Smith (Short Takes: Fast Break Poetry, 2001, etc.) tells the story of a boy and his dog through large photographs and one- or two-sentence descriptions of their actions around a park. Alex is an African-American boy and his faithful companion is a small tan and white dog called Loki, who has somewhat scary, golden-brown eyes and a mouthful of very sharp-looking teeth. Smith uses alternating first-person points of view: Alex’s on the left-hand pages with color photos and words from Alex in red, and Loki’s perceptions on the right-hand pages with black and white photos (as a dog sees the world) and words set in dark blue. A small repeating photo of Alex or Loki next to their words (or thoughts) helps to reinforce the organizational concept, but many children will require an adult’s help to understand the sometimes widely differing views of the same event. This unusual concept will be useful to teachers introducing point of view in the early elementary grades, and it could be used as the starting point for similar creative-writing assignments with older elementary students. Unfortunately, Loki isn’t the most appealing dog on the block, as he looks rather like a snarling fox in several of the photos, but Alex is a handsome lad with lots of personality. (Picture book. 6-9)