Gracie's Baby Chub Chop (Hardcover)

by Gillian Johnson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 3–Gracie, a large brown dog, and Fabio, a small white one, are content with their lives until their owners baby-sit Baby Chub Chop while his parents travel to Timbuktu. Gracie figures she can tolerate a visitor for a week or two, but Fabio warns the child, "Stay away./Leave me alone./Don't touch my rug,/My ball, my bone." When the adults are not looking, Baby Chub discovers that he can walk and proceeds to make a mess of the house. Of course, Gracie and Fabio are blamed and banished "To the doghouse!" Later on, the pets are forgiven when they show their owners some inky footprints that reveal the true culprit. This comical tale will have kids identifying with the very human reactions of these animals when Baby Chub invades their space. The rhyming text keeps the action moving quickly, but it is the humorous watercolor-and-ink illustrations that portray the pets with funny facial expressions that make this story amusing rather than lesson oriented. While certainly predictable, it will engage readers.–Wanda Meyers-Hines, Ridgecrest Elementary School, Huntsville, AL
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Description
…Baby Chub was full of flaws.
He had no tail, no fur, no paws.
He lay about
On back and tummy,
Sucking on
A rubber dummy.
His head was bald.
He had a rash.
He ate the most disgusting mash.

Baby Chub Chop has come to visit, bringing chaos in his wake. Gracie and Fabio have their doggy noses out of joint. Chub Chop is getting all the attention. What’s worse, Baby Chub Chop is just about to walk. The big moment comes when he is alone. On his first independent walk/rampage he breaks things, he hides things, and generally creates a mess. Who gets the blame? Not cute baby Chub Chop but innocent Gracie and Fabio.

It is up to Gracie to sniff out the clues and prove that Baby Chub Chop is the culprit.

Told in hilariously rhyming couplets in the tradition of Dr. Seuss, embellished with delightful illustrations, Gracie the hound, first introduced in My Sister Gracie, continues to win readers’ hearts from Iceland to Tasmania.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Tundra Books (August 24, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0887766935
• ISBN-13: 978-0887766930
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 8.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,735,804 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Dog Detectives Expose Destructive Baby, March 14, 2005

By	M. Allen Greenbaum (California) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This is an almost great book, flawed slightly by its characterization of "Baby Chub," an infant left by his vacationing parents with a family and their two dogs, Fabio (a smallish white poodle) and Gracie (an enormous, somewhat more easygoing dog). The dogs have had it made til the baby arrives, and in a case of interspecies rivalry, the two dogs are jealous of the attention and praise that the little one gets. They begin to notice his bad (read: un-doglike) ways:

"Bug baby was full of flaws,
He had no tail, no fur no paws,
He lay about
On back and tummy,
Sucking on
A rubber dummy."

The verse is humorous and colorful, although the plot strains a bit. We're supposed to link that the tiny toddler's destruction of the house (e.g., spilled ink, toys in the bathtub) to the dogs being away at the park. That short subplot is entirely unnecessary. When the "pillaging, plundering" actions are discovered, the Mother immediately blames the dogs, locking them outside "without their kibbles and kippers/Their ball and their bone." Although the returning parents blame the dogs as well, Fabio and Gracie show their family that the real culprit was the baby.

Of course, it's all in fun, but there's a mean-spirited depiction of the baby. The illustrator shows a bottom's up view of Baby Chow's rash-covered behind, and the usually cute, big-eyed, innocent looking baby is shown several times with an evil sort of smile on his face, as if he shows his true character to the dogs only. I think the book will get a lot of laughs, but after having just read equally humorous books that promote cooperation, I have just a little trouble with the message and the somewhat contrived plot.