Ralphy's Rules for Living the Good Life

"Don't be a TyrantoCrankaTsuris."

Good advice for us all, child or adult. In fact, I couldn't help thinking as I read that this info should be required reading for many adults. As it is, it's obviously designed to be read aloud by adults, so, hmm, maybe perfect.

I liked the use of two animals almost any child would be familiar with, a squirrel and dog. Joey the cranky squirrel meets the perky, smiley Ralphy one day at the park and his life changes. I wonder how long it took him after the last page to figure out that Ralphy was just practicing his own good advice. The drawings are quite simple with no distracting backgrounds, so the focus remains on Joey and Ralphy, who appears to be a spaniel type. He's wearing a collar so one must assume he has humans (who never appear) somewhere who love him. The colors are basic and young children should enjoy the idea of critters doing very human things like playing soccer and riding a bike, not to mention getting hugs from those who love Joey. Remember, the target audience is children, so the simplicity works well.

Thanks #NetGalley and #PurpleButterflyPress - #IBRA for introducing me to Ralphy. My own Daisy dog gets quite cranky at the local squirrel, so maybe I need to read this to her.