Happy go lucky Tag lives with a cantankerous cat, but he doesn’t let them get him down. He plays contently with his squeaker ball. One day, while playing, his squeaker ball comes to life. Where Tag sees magic, the cat just sees something odd going on.

Sam Hundley has woven a story around art made from found objects. While the story was cute, the book really inspired my seven year old to take a deeper look into making found art of her own. It’s a book we would definitely pic up at the library.

3.5 stars

I adore the illustrations in this book! So clever and inventive. Really impressed. I thought the story itself was also fun, but sometimes the way things were worded threw me off. It just didn't come across as smoothly as I think the author wanted. Genuinely beautiful artwork though.

The art in this book is phenomenal and the characterization spot-on. Older children will enjoy trying to figure out what relics make up the parts of each animal, while also being entertained by the storytelling!

The story is sweet and silly. It uses traditional tropes of a fun-loving dog and a suspicious cat; somewhat jaded in the technique but I think kids will still enjoy it. The most challenging aspect of this book is the fact that it was written and illustrated by a scrap metal artist. The images are multidimensional scrap metal pieces, which are hard to discern when looking at the illustrations and take a minute to identify. Very young kids may find it challenging to spot the "dog," "cat" or "mouse" in this book. If you can get past that it's a fun, quick read.

Thanks to Netgalley and Capstone for a free digital copy.

An interesting style of illustration to match an interesting story. Not my favorite, but I do think kids will find it entertaining.

Tag the dog can do all kinds of things with his squeaker ball—chew it, toss it, and especially squeak it. Then one day the squeaker comes to life! Tag is delighted, but the resident cat is...

This book was so cute! I loved the illustrations and they were unlike anything I have seen before. Working with children, I have read lots of kids books and I think this is one that any young child would enjoy! The story itself was cute and easy to follow.

Thank you to Capstone, NetGalley and the author for my chance to read and review this story!

I am obsessed with the way the animals were made in this book! Pieces of metal, junk, etc. so creative! I can’t wait to read this to my child! He will get a kick out of all the different materials and shapes!

Okay, this book was really cool. The story follows a dog that loses his squeaker toy under the couch, a mouse that helps him out, and a suspicious cat. It's a simple but sweet story perfect for ages 2-5. But the coolest part is that the characters are made of scrap art of dug relics. There is some explanation in the back of the pieces used to make the art, and also a picture of Theo the beagle and his squeaker (the inspiration of the story.) Overall, totally cute and interesting kid's book that I would highly recommend. And my 3yo says he liked it a whole lot! Thanks so much to the publisher and NetGalley for the free ARC copy!

This was a fun book with interesting illustrations, the author uses found objects and photographs them for the illustrations which I thought was quite unique. I love the Digging into Sam's Art page at the end of the book, it offers the book even more dimensions.

I love the illustrations that are made from scrap it’s great idea something different. I really enjoyed this story it was lovely. The pictures are bright and bold and there is just enough writing in the pages for young children to enjoy the story and keep entertained.
Thank you NetGalley for letting me read this book.

For the second book running this creator has used rostrum photography, with cameras pointing down to arrangements of found objects and junk to help create his images. Help is the word, for there is certainly more digital manipulation and editing than before, to create domestic furniture and other bits of scenery. What I think I'm hedging around is the fact the whole visual spirit seemed a little diluted by this, and I don't think this effort is as strong as "Gifts of the Magpie". It concerns a dog who loves a battered little squeaky ball, but who gets a wonderful surprise when it rolls out of reach under the couch one day... The blurb tells us it's a story to promote fascination and wonder, in that the dog just accepts the magical treat that follows, while the cynical cat he lives with gets blindsided, and cannot solve the mystery. But I didn't see that moral, if moral is what it is, really reinforced by a pleasant but slight animal episode; the cat's obvious intelligence comes to nothing and I wouldn't see that as a positive. Not bad, but really no classic – perhaps three and a half stars is about right.

The illustrations in this book are made with scrap art and it’s honestly one of the coolest children’s books I’ve ever seen. The dog, cat and mouse are all made with different parts of metal, etc. I liked that the dog was made with a dog tag, haha. Very cute! The story is fun and endearing, too! Definitely worth a read!

This was a uniquely cute story. I liked that the animals didn’t look “typical.” It was an easy read that children will find easy to follow! The storyline was also very cute.

Tag and the Magic Squeaker tells the story of Tag the dog as he plays with his favorite squeaker toy. Tag carries his squeaker with him everywhere and plays with it often. Once it rolls under the couch, the no-nonsense cat celebrates that the noisy toy is gone. What they don’t know is that the mouse is all too interested in using the squeaker for his own devices.

This book was very cute and I think children of all ages would enjoy it. The text is limited on each page, making it great for story time and young readers alike. The end of the book contains head scratchers and other questions you can work with your child to answer. It makes for a fun overall experience.

One of the most interesting parts of this book were the illustrations! The characters of Tag, the cat and the mouse are made from found objects which I thought was a very interesting idea. This pairs nicely with the oranges, greens, and yellows that are found in the background color palette.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advance copy.