PICKLE ON WHEELS

Pickle the pooch perseveres with pals.

Pickle’s a huge fan of the TV show Superdog, and after watching the latest episode, in which the superheroic protagonist roller-skates to the rescue of a falling child, Pickle becomes a skating fanatic. Grandma sends Pickle a present: skates and a helmet! “I can be like Superdog now!” Pickle says. But after taking a few tumbles, Pickle’s ready to put away the skates. Coco, a spotted rabbit, appears on skates and offers to help Pickle practice; the two take things slow, skating while holding hands. Another spill tears a hole in Pickle’s pants, but Coco offers some reassuring words and a bandage, and they keep at it. Later, Pickle assumes the role of teacher and rallies a similarly discouraged roller skater, Felix the bird. Felix compares Pickle to Superdog, making it clear that kind gestures and encouragement are the hallmarks of a true hero. By the end of the story, Pickle, Coco, and Felix are all skating together, three links in a chain of friendship. The repeated emphasis on process over results conveys a lovely lesson that never becomes preachy. Kantorovitz’s spare, muted artwork is enchanting in its simplicity, depicting the pains of failing at a new hobby and the joys of finally triumphing; she also displays a keen eye for precious details such as Pickle’s handwritten thank-you letter to Grandma and knee patches on the protagonist’s now-mended trousers.

A positively super lesson in persistence.