Dewey Bob

by Judy Schachner, Judy Schachner (Illustrator)

Overview

A sweet raccoon character stars in this endearing tale of unexpected friendship from the creator of the bestselling Skippyjon Jones

Dewey Bob Crockett is a durn cute raccoon who lives by himself in a house filled to the brim with the wonderful objects he collects. Buttons, wheels, furniture and bricabrac adorn his cozy quarters and keep him busy as he finds and fixes, turning trash into treasures. But there’s something missing from Dewey’s collections—a friend! He tries gathering up some critters and bringing them home in his shopping cart, but that doesn’t work out so well. In the end, a friend does come Dewey’s way, and, with a little DIY help from this clever raccoon, returns again and again.

Combining art and heart with storytelling genius and a lilting twang, Judy Schachner's tale of unexpected friendship will delight readers young and old. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780803741201
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	09/08/2015
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	665,600
Product dimensions:	9.70(w) x 11.20(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	830L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 - 5 Years

About the Author

Best known for her Skippyjon Jones series, Judy Schachner has illustrated many of her own stories, including the much-lovedThe Grannyman and its companion book, Bits & Pieces. She has also illustrated stories by others, including I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie by Alison Jackson and How the Cat Swallowed Thunder by Lloyd Alexander. She lives in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.

Editorial Reviews

06/15/2015
All grown up and newly out on his own, a hayseed raccoon named Dewey Bob Crockett sets out to build a life around his instincts for collecting and hoarding things. But even though Dewey Bob loves the thrill of the hunt—the sorting, the cleaning, and the turning of odds and ends into useful or fanciful contraptions (one of which fills a vertical gatefold)— he is lonely. Why not try to collect friends like he collects buttons? Reflecting, perhaps, the hodgepodge that is Dewey Bob’s natural element, Schachner’s (the Skippyjon Jones series) longwinded story is a jumble of voices and art styles. She drops her gs (albeit inconsistently), sprinkles her text with countrified turns of phrase (“I’m as clean as the beans are green!”), and liberally uses word bubbles to convey dialogue, poems, and songs that comment on the action, all to dizzying, distracting effect. Her artwork is more successful: with his tiny, earnest eyes, and huge head, Dewey is downright adorable, and Schachner’s skillful layering of watercolor and pencil textures with photo collage gives the story a homespun, scrapbooked feel. Ages 3–5. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"With his tiny, earnest eyes, and huge head, Dewey is downright adorable, and Schachner’s skillful layering of watercolor and pencil textures with photo collage gives the story a homespun, scrapbooked feel." —Publishers Weekly

“The mixed-media illustrations fairly glow with endearing whimsy… This sweet, homespun…story will appeal to Schachner’s many Skippyjon Jones fans and will introduce a new character to the canon.” —School Library Journal
 
“The illustrations are captivating…they are a joy to sit and gaze at, making the story so much more enjoyable. All ages can enjoy Dewey Bob, his antics, and his adventure.” —School Library Connection
 
"Schachner’s folksynarrative, full of charming couplets in speech bubbles from Dewey, is well matched by her delightfullyjumbled collage illustrations, combining snippets of paper and photographs with soft, gentle watercolorfigures. Little ones will love poring over Dewey’s collections to find treasures, and the heartwarming text...makes for a spirited read-aloud."  —Booklist

From the Publisher

10/01/2015
PreS-Gr 2—For a young raccoon, Dewey Bob has loads of character. Despite a plethora of hobbies and amusing predilections, from collecting buttons to being "as clean as the beans are green," and a knack for "decoratin'," Dewey Bob finds himself lonely when he strikes out on his own. Fortunately, his inventiveness comes in handy when he meets a kitten who can't walk, scoring him a friend. With fresh colors, handwritten lettering, and lush textures reminiscent of Melissa Sweet's work, the mixed-media illustrations fairly glow with endearing whimsy. Inspirational quotes and lively poems are integrated deftly into the images. However, the charm of the illustrations doesn't fully extend to the text. The story has a few too many ideas in it to fill out a traditional story arc, and the writing is a tad rambly. The down-home country dialect may delight listeners with its playful phrasing but may also pose challenges as a read-aloud. VERDICT This sweet, homespun (if rather long-winded) story will appeal to Schachner's many Skippyjon Jones fans and will introduce a new character to the canon.—Erin Reilly-Sanders, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI

School Library Journal

2015-07-27
The creator of Skippyjon Jones leaves behind, at least temporarily, her bestselling Siamese kitten's Frito Bandito-speak for pure corn pone in her new story of a little hoarder raccoon. As the book opens, young Dewey Bob sets out to find a home big enough for his burgeoning collections: of buttons, of experiences (stored in glass jars), and other stuff. Moving into a hollow tree, he immediately goes out "shopping" at the dump, where he fills his cart with a small mountain of oddments that he turns into a found-art sculpture. Lonely, he then moves on to collecting fireflies (he releases them), then maniacally tosses "every critter too slow to get out of his way" into his cart as potential friends. The "li'l rascal" is unfazed when everybody promptly bolts but for a kitten who can't leave due to injured hind legs, a condition Schachner forces readers to infer from the illustrations. This meandering and tendentiously cute story is crammed into 32 pages with little regard for story arc, transition, or coherence. Schachner's mixed-media illustrations are eye-catching, and Dewey Bob looks adorable, but they background a text that feels written around such self-consciously down-home declarations as "I'm a mean, clean, washin' machine!" Indeed, so committed is Dewey Bob to cleanliness that his habits yield the technically accurate but wildly incongruous simile "as clean as a bucketful of bleached bones." An undisciplined mess. (Picture book. 3-7)

Kirkus Reviews