14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
David Shannon gets the essence of "Westie-tude", February 18, 2006
This review is from: Good Boy, Fergus! (Hardcover)
My family had a Westie. David Shannon's "Good Boy, Fergus" completely nails the character of the breed. He's got every maddening but endearing trait of the "Westie-tude" down to a "T" in laugh-inducing drawings that you'll be eager to show others. Yes, "Fergus" is for reading level 4 - 8, but this adult reader was in tears of laughter thumbing through it. It's a compulsory purchase for anyone who has had a Westie make their indelible imprint on your life.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
David Shannon=Dr. Doolittle?, May 1, 2007
This review is from: Good Boy, Fergus! (Hardcover)
How David Shannon can get inside the head of our best friend is beyond me. There must be an angry dog somewhere who's barking mad at his or her stolen royalties. In fact, I almost suspect that our dog, the undeniably intelligent,funny, cooperative-yet-willful Sadie the Golden Retriever both co-wrote and modeled for the book.
NO that's there's any physical similaries between Fergus--a SUPER-expressive white terrior--and Sadie. However, both these dogs know how to give "Attitude," with a huge capital A. WHoever said that dogs are easy; cats are hard never met Fergus: Destructive as a bull shopping for china, playful as an otter, and stubborn as the stubbornest mule on either side of your closest mountain range. The disruption starts early as a calm morning walk (Fergus' human holds a newspaper, perhaps thinking he might glance at the headlines) turns into a chase after a cat. Fergus' legs fly in different directions, his tongue lunges forward, and his eyes grow big. Shannon draws this (in gouache and ink, I believe) almost like a cubist painting, "Dog Descending a Porch Trying to Eat a Cat," with playful elongations of time and dimension. The next 2-page spread is all too familiar to dog owners: Fergus, despite much pleading, expert commands ("COME"), and good cop/bad cop negotiations, refuses to return from his post at a squirreled tree.
Fergus knows how to work it. He's cute and cuddly, and he knows it. He can follow the rigorous commands of "Sit," "Roll Over," and "Down." This is a great advantage when wanting that itch scratched or the always-hungry belly filled. Fergus hides under the bed when it's bathtime(though his butt shows), adhere to canine union rules by sticking out his head while Mr. Human drives, successfully--through sheer persistence--gets spaghetti table scraps, and LEAPS upon his human at the mere metion of "walk." He pees on the sidewalk, but that's a dog's perogative, and, before retiring for the evening, waits out dinner until the man squirts it with whipped cream. Dry Food a la Mode, anyone?
I love this book. It captures the obvious and the subtle in well-known dog behaviors, and does so sympathetically. Sure Fergus can be a little work, but Shannon takes the healthy attitude that this is what a dog is like. Show dogs may sniff their noses at this notion, but Fergus is just not one of them, and never will be. Shannon's illustrations are spectacular; the big expanses of color with inkshading and detail, copious use of yellow, and the big green palid jacket of Mr. Human have an exciting 1940's aesthetic. Fergus is all motion and emotion, and Shannon gets it perfectly and playfully, with lots of open space, curvy lines, and multiple actions upn which delighted eyes will dance. Fergus has appeared in ten of Caldecott Honor winner Shannon's previous books, but this is his first as the main character. He acquits himself like a very good dog, indeed.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lush Life, March 21, 2006
This review is from: Good Boy, Fergus! (Hardcover)
David Shannon's Fergus MacLaggan is always into everything - except that which he ought! Readers and the children to whom they read will delight in the luscious illustrations and Fergus' antics and escapades, he who will not eat his kibble without that aerosol artificial whipped cream topping from a can!
It's a wonderful dog's life!
/TundraVision, Amazon Reviewer
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