ROY IS NOT A DOG

A young detective gathers evidence that his reclusive neighbor is “withoutadoubtably a dog!”

A boy named Weasel is sure he knows everything about the neighbors along his paper route—except for the one who lives at the end of Lilypod Lane. Trench coat–clad Roy can read and cook, but, glimpsed behind a row of bushes shaped like fire hydrants, he has floppy ears and a face with a long muzzle. Could he be a dog? When Roy catches a thrown stick and then a raw steak, Weasel’s suspicions are excited. And when Weasel’s friend Pam Pam walks by with her cat, Roy’s reaction confirms it. OK, admits Roy, “so I’m a DOG! But I’m no less of a person! I read the morning paper. I can fry an egg better than most. I have a driver’s license. And I even do my taxes!” Ending his declaration of personhood with a resounding “I am proud!” Roy suggests that there may be more to know about the other residents of Lilypod Lane, and indeed, figures that were silhouetted in the earlier views of the leafy, lushly planted neighborhood do reveal surprises in the fully illuminated final spread for attentive viewers to spot. Beneath a tangle of black hair, Weasel has light-brown skin, while Pam Pam, the only other human in the cast, has red hair and slightly lighter skin.

A pointed message about expecting, as well as accepting, differences in others, delivered with a doggy flourish.