Bad Astrid

PreS-Gr 1—A pudgy, long-eared dog moves into the neighborhood and starts terrorizing her neighbor, a smaller, blue-faced pup. Astrid's mean-spirited shenanigans are recounted in bouncy verse littered with some fun vocabulary that occasionally forces the rhyme and does not scan well, but not enough to truly mar this book. "In her bike helmet painted/with a skull and crossbones,/she tore up the sidewalk/like a mini-cyclone." When Bad Astrid gets herself into trouble and her kindhearted neighbor helps her out, they become friends. Dunnick's funny cartoons lighten the mood. Readers will giggle at Astrid flying through the air, underpants showing, while they learn a simple lesson. Libraries that need more titles on bullying should consider purchasing this just-shy-of-didactic look at the mean kid who needs a little love and attention.—Angela J. Reynolds, Annapolis Valley Regional Library, Bridgetown, NS, Canada