By Preston McClear

Reviewed by Deborah Salazar


"Hilarious." That's the verdict from my six-year-old on Frannie and Pickles, a whimsically illustrated story of the special bond between an elderly woman and her animal companion. The bond intensifies page by page. Somehow, Frannie becomes her dog Pickles, and vice versa. Frannie catches a Frisbee in her mouth. Pickles wins a bridge game. While my son was laughing at the narrative, my two-year-old enjoyed searching the delicately detailed pictures for the subtext story of a gang of mice who are terrorizing cats. What were those mice going to do next? In a corner of the final page, the barbarous mice, in caveman skins, are gathered around a tiny barbecue. No! Are they going to eat roasted cat!? My family goes through stacks of children's library books and finds that an occasional book is a definite "keeper." This book is one of those you can read over and over for new discoveries; the story is so subtle and poetic that there endless messages to be gleaned from it. My six-year-old and I discussed a different ethical aspect of how living beings treat one another at each reading. My two-year-old never tired of looking for those mice! Buy this book--it's a lovely holiday gift for sensitive, thinking families who value compassion towards animals and a good joke. I'm still chuckling over that heart tattoo on Frannie that read "Pickles 4-ever!"

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