From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 2. If you have young patrons (and/or their parents) who have enjoyed Wegman's Cinderella (1993) and William Wegman's Mother Goose (1996, both Hyperion), you will have an audience for this spin-off of the old tale of the country mouse and the city mouse. For those not familiar with Mr. W's productions, the photo illustrations star his patient, photogenic weimaraners, posed wearing human clothes and rather eerily depicted with human hands?and feet?where necessary. In this tale of a lesson learned, city boy/dog Chip visits his friends on Farmer McFay's farm and is inveigled into doing all the work. While Chip doggedly digs and plants and cleans cow stalls and mows and acts as a scarecrow, his pals dawdle, sip milk, fish, and generally loll about. A wiser Chip packs up and heads cityward to star as a drummer in a nightclub combo. Several illustrations might give young non-farmers the mistaken impression that a varied crop of veggies can be reaped from four spindly plants (tomatoes?), that hay is mowed with a hand-pushed lawn mower, and that scarecrows are needed in long-harvested cornfields. Very peculiar.?Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NYCopyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Card catalog description
Chip, a city dog, goes to visit his country cousins to learn all about farming.

ANNOTATION

Chip, a city dog, goes to visit his country cousins to learn all about farming.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

William Wegman's world-famous weimaraners take a trip to the country! City boy Chip has been invited to the country by his country cousins the McDoubles. On the old McFay farm, owned and operated by Farmer Chundo, the McDoubles teach Chip all kinds of things.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly - Cahners\\Publishers_Weekly

Imagine Grant Wood's American Gothic with weimaraners, and you'll have a notion of this volume's humorous contents. For his cover image, Wegman photographs two stoic dogs in overalls, one holding a hoe and the other a rake. These, readers learn, are the twinlike Batty and Crooky McDouble, country cousins to "city boy" Chip. The McDoubles welcome Chip to their farm and observe as he learns to plant crops and milk cows. Their ulterior motives become apparent, however, when they show their new friend how to use a push mower, then escape to a fishing hole as he sweats. As in his earlier efforts, Wegman uses bulky costumes and carefully posed human assistants to give the illusion that his dogs walk upright and have human hands. The weimaraners cooperate magnificently, with facial expressions that range from sneaky to quizzical to proud. Summery green trees, wide pastures and a quaint red barn provide a bucolic backdrop to the oddball farmers, shown in photos of smartly varying sizes and shapes. Longtime Wegman watchers will enjoy spotting Chip, Batty, Crooky and their elder Chundo (who plays the overseer at the McFay farm) in their new roles here. The rustic plot of this witty book takes a back seat to the inside jokes, comic-grotesque imagery and playful, ad-caliber type design.

Publishers Weekly

Imagine Grant Wood's American Gothic with weimaraners, and you'll have a notion of this volume's humorous contents. For his cover image, Wegman photographs two stoic dogs in overalls, one holding a hoe and the other a rake. These, readers learn, are the twinlike Batty and Crooky McDouble, country cousins to "city boy" Chip. The McDoubles welcome Chip to their farm and observe as he learns to plant crops and milk cows. Their ulterior motives become apparent, however, when they show their new friend how to use a push mower, then escape to a fishing hole as he sweats. As in his earlier efforts, Wegman uses bulky costumes and carefully posed human assistants to give the illusion that his dogs walk upright and have human hands. The weimaraners cooperate magnificently, with facial expressions that range from sneaky to quizzical to proud. Summery green trees, wide pastures and a quaint red barn provide a bucolic backdrop to the oddball farmers, shown in photos of smartly varying sizes and shapes. Longtime Wegman watchers will enjoy spotting Chip, Batty, Crooky and their elder Chundo (who plays the overseer at the McFay farm) in their new roles here. The rustic plot of this witty book takes a back seat to the inside jokes, comic-grotesque imagery and playful, ad-caliber type design. All ages. (Apr.)

School Library Journal