Review Detail

An ordinary dog who loves to do ordinary dog stuff is running along one day when he sees a beautiful cat and instantly falls in love with her. He tries to tell her, but she only hears woofs and growls and runs up a tree to escape from him. He pines for her, thinks about her beautiful nose, and finally gives up and goes to dig. When he digs up a trombone, he lets all of his deep, difficult feelings pour out through music and she finally understands and falls in love with him too.

I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, I think it's lovely to show that characters who are very different from each other can find common ground through music. I love the message that sometimes what we feel can't be communicated through words alone. But it felt like the dog's emotions were described like an adult's and the entire set up felt adult to me, and that was off-putting in a child's book. So, I guess I have to give this one thumb up and one thumb down.