I Want a Dog

Jon Agee’s typically witty, clever picture book puts a fresh spin on the ‘I want a pet’ story.  A little girl pulls her wheeled wagon to the Happydale Animal Shelter and tells its lanky proprietor ‘I want a dog.’ Over the next double pages, in scenes that build the comedy superbly, the man presents her with an adorable armadillo, an awesome anteater, a baby baboon (it chases a ball, ‘just like a dog’), and more, to her increasing irritation. At last, after bringing out a lizard dressed up as a dog, he has to admit, he doesn’t even have a dog. Only then, when the little girl describes what’s so special about a dog – a dog is ‘loyal, loving, smart, cuddly, goofy, courageous … the best friend you could ever have in the world’ does he bring out Lucinda, who eats 20lbs of fish a day and needs to swim in at least 3,000 cubic feet of water. She’s perfect! The comedy derives from the parade of so many unsuitable pets, the little girl’s determined refusal to accept them, and the man’s changing demeanour – confidence, desperation, hope again –  all perfectly depicted in Agee’s deadpan illustration style; but the immediate connection we see between the little girl and Lucinda is powerful, a moment of true love.