I am late to the Buddy and Earl series. In fact, I hadn’t known it existed until after I read Buddy and Earl go exploring, This 2016 picture book was, like the other books in the series, written by Maureen Fergus and illustrated by Carey Sookocheff.
Both of these creators are Canadian, and I have to say, there’s a gentle feel to this that I associate with Canada (perhaps falsely).
I will double back and read the first book in the series, but this one was pleasant. It has a tight focus that gives it unity. It follows Buddy the dog and Earl the hedgehog as they prepare for bed. They say good night, then Earl takes a trip…by running for a long time on his exercise wheel.
This gives him the reason/excuse to see his home as a new place, a place of adventure. The pair have escapades driven by seeing familiar things in new ways. Earl drives these re-visions, sometimes with words (describing their dad as an ogre) and sometimes through his poor vision. This last quality lets him see a water dish as a lake, and, later, a brush in a purse as a “lovely lady hedgehog trapped in the jaws of a monster!” When Earl convinces Buddy to act on his visions, Buddy is rewarded with old meatloaf (in the trash can–and Earl defends Buddy from his nemesis: the vacuum cleaner.
The friends go back to bed happy…leaving a completely messed up house behind them.
The illustrations are simple, with a mellow color scheme that unifies the book and suggests night.
This book reads a lark, but in the process, gives gentle lessons on the power of perception, and on how different people experience things different ways. And maybe that there are reasons pets make messes.
