Kids are on the edge of their seats when George says “moo” at the vet’s office and he pulls out the extra long latex glove to get that cow out. Similar to the last point, building absurdity leads to humor as well, but also reader engagement. You see George’s mother slowly descending into madness as she asks George to bark over and over again and he can’t? That’s funny. Ever heard of the Pigeon? Exasperation is the Pigeon’s life force. There is a simple yet true picture book equation. The bark scene is mirrored in the vet scene later in the book, when we learn that George has swallowed the other animals (which the vet pulls out one by one). But every time George tries, he makes a different animal sound.
The book begins with George’s mother asking him to bark. The vet pulls them out, and George can bark again – pretty clear-cut. George’s mother takes him to the vet, and we learn that George has swallowed a cast of ever-larger animals. George tries to bark, but different animal sounds come out. The text is devoid of any words that don’t absolutely have to be there. Bark, George has a simple structure where everything set up in the beginning plays out in the end. In a world of often overdone or underdone picture books, this fine Feiffer creation is just right.Don’t even try to tell me Bark, George isn’t a perfect book. None of it will be lost on the youngest of readers who will giggle every time George fails to bark, every time the vet extracts a new animal, and at the final punchline, too. Still, his cartoonish drawings are intensely expressive, alive, and hilarious. This is the simplest offering yet from Jules Feiffer–creator of the delightful picture books Meanwhile and I Lost My Bear. George is cured, and barks at last! On the way home, his proud mother wants to show off her convincingly doglike son to everyone on the street.īut when she says, “Bark, George,” he simply says, “Hello.” Becoming less patient and more exasperated, George’s mom takes him to the vet, who reaches deep down inside the errant pup, and, much to everyone’s surprise, pulls out a cat!
Now, bark, George.”īut he quacks! Then oinks. She patiently explains that “Cats go meow. When George’s mother tells her son to bark, he meows.
0 kommentar(er)
