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Summary
Summary
In this next bestselling title from Mark Teague, Ike's plans for a peaceful cruise with Mrs. LaRue are thwarted when their neighbor, Mrs. Hibbins, falls suddenly ill. While she recovers, Mrs. LaRue is taking her cats on a weeklong road trip vacation. Ike is beside himself and quickly takes up his pen to tell us why!
Join award-winner Mark Teague on this romping road trip across America. Readers can follow along on the maps of the U.S. that span the endpapers. Teague drives us to the story's satisfying conclusion, and we are left with one profound question: Can cats and dogs really be friends?
Author Notes
Mark Teague is an American author and illustrator of children's books. Teague has illustrated over 40 books including the Poppleton series, the First Graders from Mars series, The Great Gracie Chase, and other favorites. He wrote and self-illustarted several Mrs. LaRue children's books.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 4-Veteran letter writer Ike is back with the same feisty determination that established his hilarious voice in the earlier books. In this title, the disgruntled dog has a bone to pick with his neighbor, Mrs. Hibbins. She has been hospitalized due to a heat wave in Snort City, leaving Mrs. LaRue and Ike in charge of her two cats. Ike is incredulous that he has to change their summer vacation plans. Instead of his long-awaited ocean cruise, he'll now be taking a road trip with the detestable felines. The story is structured around Ike's cross-country adventures with his unwanted traveling companions and his ceaseless efforts to convey the supreme injustice of the situation to Mrs. Hibbins. Each of the postcards is a priceless piece of self-delusion, as Ike feigns concern for Mrs. LaRue and Mrs. Hibbins while his own motivations are quite clear. Teague's ear for his character's endless complaints is pitch perfect, and his wonderful illustrations are laugh-out-loud funny. Large spreads with the postcards superimposed on the crazy goings-on and expressive faces on the animals and humans make this a winner.-Gloria Koster, West School, New Canaan, CT (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
When avid letter-writer Ike LaRue's neighbor, Mrs. Hibbins, is hospitalized, LaRue's owner, Gertrude, cancels their cruise to take the neighbor's cats on a road trip. A distraught canine writes harried postcards to Mrs. Hibbins, imploring her to let him send them home, while doing his part to torment the skittish kitties. Growing weary, Ike writes, "Is it really a ¿Grand' Canyon? In my sad state I can no longer tell." Luckily, "fate" intervenes in Death Valley, and the travelers get their cruise. With Ike's memories and exaggerated fantasies captured in b&w thought bubbles, Teague's cagey cat caricatures and Ike's melodramatics are spot-on hilarious. Ages 4-8. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Dog-scribe Ike LaRue pens postcards to his neighbor, Mrs. Higgins, whose cats--much to Ike's chagrin--accompany him on vacation. The notes start off polite ("I am certain that they would be happier at home") and grow increasingly desperate ("Perhaps I will mail myself home"). Teague's top-notch, larger-than-life double-page-spread illustrations reveal the humorous truths behind Ike's cushy vacation. (c) Copyright 2011. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Ike, that cute, crafty canine, is back in his fourth adventure. A planned cruise trip with his owner, Mrs. LaRue, is foiled when a neighbor lands in the hospital, stranding her two cats. Cruise ship becomes road trip across the country with the two cats creating a cat-as-trophy at each new juncture. Ike's postcards to the neighbor become increasingly desperate. From Pea Gravel, S.D., he writes: "The local postmaster claims it would be illegal for me to send live cats through the mail." Crossing the prairie, Ike is in the back seat of the car holding two signs: "Bad Cats! S.O.S." When Mrs. LaRue's car conks out in the desert, a First Mate on a cruise ship rescues them. Cleverly designed, the comic illustrations spare no whisker for laugh-out-loud humor, especially the feline facial expressionssticking out their tongues, shooting slingshots. As in previous outings, Teague plays black-and-white scenes (dogs are colorblind, don't you know) against full-color acrylics to great effect. The endpapers are a map of the United States with their (incredibly illogical) route marked. This furry fiasco is fabulous fun. No pussyfooting here, just the cat's meow of a doggie's tale of woe. Bone Voyage.(Picture book. 4-9)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.