MARTHA AND SKITS

Meddaugh tucks an unobtrusive lesson about valuing differences into this tale of doggy devotion, her fifth featuring the ever-popular Martha. From her favorite easy chair, Martha looks on benevolently as Skits, a new little companion, creates total puppy chaos indoors and out, developing from an “equal opportunity chaser and chewer” to a specialist in snagging “anything airborne.” Soon “little” Skits is little no longer—but not even two bowls of the alphabet soup that gives Martha the power of speech produces in him anything beyond a bark. Feeling his family’s disappointment, Skits wanders disconsolately out to the yard and incautiously snaps at a yellow jacket. By the time the pain eases, he is a long way from home. With some of Martha’s comments placed in dialogue balloons, Meddaugh’s sketchy, expressive illustrations capture the entire family’s worry as they hunt for their lost member, leading up to a joyful reunion at a climactic Frisbee contest that (thanks to some timely help from Martha) Skits wins jaws down to regain his self-respect. So what if his conversational range extends from “arf” to “woof”? If it flies or floats, it’s history. (Picture book. 5-7)