Archie by Domenica More Gordon

[katekintailbc]

Archie
by Domenica More Gordon

Hmm. This book confuses me. I picked it up because of the adorable puppy on the front who looks like my parents' cairn terrier. It's the story of a sewing machine and the dog's owner, who learns to sew and starts sewing all sorts of neat items for not only his dog but other people's dogs. The story is told without words and with beautiful yet adorable illustrations. I loved all the fashions, and I'm not even a fashionista or someone who has EVER dressed up a dog. The clothes bring personality and character out of the dogs. It's clever and pretty sweet.

The part of the book I don't quite get is that they're all dogs. The owners are dogs and their pets are dogs. So there are some dogs who can work sewing machines and others who can't. There are some dogs who are part of a complex human-like social structure and other dogs who are just pets. There are dogs who own other dogs. It's the Pluto vs. Goofy issue, as one coworker put it when I was describing the book. I went to the librarian with the book, feeling confused about it. But she didn't seem quite as confused as I felt. Hmm.

It's a cute book--with a surprising and adorable ending. But I had a really hard time with dogs owning dogs, dogs walking dogs. I just don't understand how that works.