Lucy’s Lane | Kirkus’ review

Bob the small and cheeky dog, friend the one and only ivan(2012), returns to tell his story.

Wise Bob has a particularly Chihuahua-like personality and currently lives with his daughter Julia and her parents. Fortunately, her father works at Wild World Zoo and Sanctuary Zoo. This zoo is home to Bob’s two best friends, Ivan the gorilla and Ruby the elephant. This allows Bob to visit regularly and update them. Bob does not trust humans (most humans only have goodness in their thumbs) due to her childhood betrayal. He is worried that his life with Julia is not going well, and he is convinced that he is a bad dog, in the sense that he is “unfit to be a representative of my species.” Masu. Bob visits a zoo during a storm and accidentally falls into the gorilla enclosure just as a tornado hits. That’s what he means by flying. In the aftermath of the storm, Bob proves to everyone (and eventually himself) that he has a big heart inside his little chest, and is also brave. With this companion, Applegate picks up where the Newbery Medal winner left off, and fans will be delighted to ride along on the lovable and self-deprecating Bob’s stormy adventures. His sarcastic canine observations and demeanor are perfect (supplemented by a glossary of dog terms and Castellao’s pictorial dictionary of dog postures in the front matter). Gorilla Ivan depicted Julia in her previous work as having straight black hair, and Castellao’s illustrations in the same volume showed her fair skin. (Completed art cannot be reviewed.)

With the Ivan movie being released by Disney this year, huge interest is expected and the payoff will be huge. (Afterword)
(Fiction. 8-12)