HOWLING FOR HOME

A ``Springboard Book'' about an irrepressible Bernese mountain dog's adjustment to a new home. Beau, who has spent his first six months in Montana, finds suburban life with a family that has never before had a dog a distressing change. Telling her story from Beau's point of view, Carris offers an amusing mix of authentic puppy behavior and indulgent human interpretation of it—especially in a hilarious scene in which Beau makes chaos of the laundry (where he's cooped up) by attacking the detergent that makes him sneeze and burying it in a basket of clothes. Meanwhile, he's been making friends with young Michael and going to dog training with him; their reunion after Beau gets lost and manages to find his way home makes a satisfying conclusion. Characterization of the adults is at best simplistic, while Mitchell's soft-pencil art is clumsy, if serviceable. Still, a readable story about an appealing pup and his new boy, fine for young dog lovers. (Fiction/Young reader. 7-10)