Customer Reviews

The Adventures of Taxi Dog

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This may well be the best children's book ever published. I am not kidding. It is warm, funny, rhythmic, gorgeously illustrated and full of family sentiment. It will make your heart glow and will help your child learn to love books, poetry, and the musical sound of prose. May we all be as thankful as Maxie to have a home and may we all be as caring as Jim, the unsung hero of Taxi Dog, who takes him in. Do yourself and your 18 month old to 6 year old a favor and buy this book today!

As a children's librarian, I always picked this book up first during storyhour. Here is a hint! I use a dog puppet to tell the story for me! Then each child can meet and greet the puppet after the reading is over. Very interactive. Try to talk to kids about being kind to animals after you read this one - it will make them really listen to your message.

We received this book as a gift when my second child was born. Two children and 1,000 readings later, it is still a favorite. The illustrations are superb, and the rhyming lyric prose is always a joy to read. This is a book I love reading over and over again to my children.

Truly one of the best children's books out there. The illustrations are incredibly rich, colorful and detailed and the story is so inventive and charming. I love Maxi! I bought this book today and read it to my 4 month old daughter. It held her attention the entire time--quite a feat! It's no wonder--the beautiful lyrical story with its rhymes and the gorgeous artwork are a delightful combination. I can't say enough about this charming story. What a plus that proceeds of the book go to a worthy animal cause. I want to see more of Maxi's adventures!

I read this book to my son when he was 5 yrs old as part of the scholastic book order through his school. My son is now going to be graduating from high school and he still has the book. However, it has seen better days since it is in paperback! The first time I read this book to him, believe it or not, I got choked up. The illustrations and the story itself are outstanding. He treasures this book as a very happy childhood memory. I've decided as part of his graduation present that I would get the brand new hard cover so that he may always cherish it and read it to his own kids some day. :o)

Second grade boys are tough critics but I've yet to find one who didn't like "The Adventures of Taxi Dog". The story, told in rhyme, is sensitive and funny. The pictures are colorful and ripe with details. The dedication is special and should not be skipped if you are reading this one out loud.

THE ADVENTURES OF TAXI DOG by Debra & Sal Barracca, and illustrated by Mark Buehner, is a 31 page medium format book. Every other page has an illustration, but there are four 2-page spreads with illustrations going all the way across. Most of the story takes place in Manhattan, as is evident from illustrations containing the PAN AM BUILDING and THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING, but one picture shows an airport.

The story begins by showing Maxi as a stray dog, the later being rescued by Jim the taxi driver, then riding in the taxi while wearing a red paisley bandana (worn by the dog), then returning to the taxi depot at the end of the day. There is no particular storyline, but one consistent theme is the depiction of unusual or precarious situations. For example, one illustration shows a businessman darting in front of heavy traffic and getting yelled at by another man driving down this street, a haughty wealthy woman with her nose in the air, a pregant woman waiting in the snow for a taxi ride, a woman shaking out a carpet from her apartment window, a bicycle rider in thick traffic getting scowled at by a truck driver. These situtions are not part of the storyline. They are just interesting things in the background, to stimulate the curiousity of intelligent readers.

Every illustration has a black cat. Some are easy to spot, while others take the form of only the head of the cat visible in the window of an automobile, a cat clock, a cloud shaped like a cat, or the black and white photograph of cat in a newspaper. Rabbits appear in three of the illustrations. The cats are not part of the storyline, they are just there to spot by curious readers.

The text takes the form of clumsy poetry. The couplets all rhyme, but the couplets do not scan well. (Actually, this is what I prefer, because when sentences scan too perfectly, it can be a distraction.) There is no attempt at any consistent meter. It is not certain to this reviewer if the failure to write the rhymes in any particular meter was intentional or not. At any rate, I prefer that there is no consistent meter. On the other hand, this IS a book for little kids. Hence, in view of the fact that the authors had intended the couplets to rhyme, I would have made every attempt to put the couplets in, e.g., iambic pentameter or iambic heptameter.

The highlight of the book is the illustrations. They are a wonder to behold. They are in a realistic style, but not in the sharp-edged, super-realistic style used in children's books by David Wiesner (TUESDAY) or by Jan Brett (OWL & THE PUSSYCAT). I prefer Marc Buehner's style of art. Mr.Buehner discloses buildings and skyscrapers basking in the golden glow of the setting sun. His clouds are intentionally shaped like animals. The style of the art is somewhat like the early paintings of Leonard Dufresne, a New York artist. Dufresne's early paintings are all painted from the perspective of somebody lying on the floor, or with an exaggerated vertical dimension. Unfortunately, Mr.Dufresne's web site seems only to have his recent paintings, which don't quite have the charming simplicity of his previous work from the early 1980s. Marc Buehner uses both of these techniques. Any person who has kids, or who has an interest in New York City, or both, will likely be proud to own all of the books in this series about a taxi dog.

My two year old son absolutely loves this story. The cute rhyme-style keeps his attention...and the colorful, detailed pictures keep him pointing and talking for quite some time. We particularly like all of the colorful characters who enter the taxi...this book is a real winner in our home.

Take it from a Third Grade Teacher who has a social studies curriculum that includes the United States...What better way to celebrate New York City but with the Barracca's Series of Books entitled: Taxi Dog? Wonderful illustrations and rhyming text captivate my audience of 8-9 year olds and make them want to read the entire series! We even make our own "taxi dogs" and rewrite our own text using the rhyming sequence of the book. Thank you to the Barracca's - keep 'em coming!! :)

I have given this book to several parents of newly adopted children. They love it because it is about choosing to become a family. The illustrations are great and the text works well when read to a rap beat.