Rocket Puppies
by William Joyce; illus. by the author
Preschool, Primary    Dlouhy/Atheneum    48 pp.
11/24    9781665961332    $18.99
e-book ed.    9781665961349    $10.99

Mid-century aesthetics, dreamlike storytelling, and meticulous craft combine to create a peculiar tale of good versus evil. Thanks to the aptly named Snarly McBummerpants—a six-legged humanoid clad in a tie and bowler hat—the “world got stuck being sad.” The villain’s minions, the solid but smog-like Mopey Smokes, travel far and wide to ruin everyone’s moods; that is, until the arrival of the Rocket Puppies in their doghouse rocket ship. These pint-sized heroes turn bullies into florists, befriend giant sea serpents, and chase away the Mopey Smokes. An epic showdown between the Rocket Puppies and McBummerpants leads to the villain’s first-ever laugh and a complete about-face. The surreal narrative possesses an uninhibited stream-of-consciousness quality; however, the highly rendered illustrations appear carefully planned and precise. The book follows a general layout of an all-white page featuring a sentence or two of text (with the occasional spot illustration) accompanied across the gutter by a full-page illustration. A brisk rhythm keeps the purposely nonsensical plot moving, yet lingering on or returning to each illustration greatly develops the overall narrative. Joyce’s inclusion of numerous breeds of dogs, individualized jetpacks for each Rocket Puppy, and fairly obscure (for young readers) pop-culture references (e.g., Laurel and Hardy) provide much to appreciate and discover. A puppy-powered romp.

From the ">January/February 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.