Rosie the Truffle Hound

All’s well that smells well. (Picture book. 4-8)

Copyright 2021 Kirkus Reviews, LLC Used with permission

In 2005, Hartland introduced Clementine, a poodle who wanted more out of life. Now, there's lanky brown Rosie, who walks on her hind legs and whose loving interracial human family is completely preoccupied making chocolate truffles, which she can't even eat, to sell in their seaside shop. So Rosie hops on a bike (a recurring and delightfully silly image) and runs away to the city, where employment misfires abound. Happily, her keen sense of smell earns her a job in the country hunting truffles: "not the chocolate kind! They are hard-to-find fungi--like mushrooms," coveted by chefs, with a "divine" smell that's "earthy and nutty and musty and unique." Rosie's an instant success, but home calls; to the delight of her entrepreneurial family, her newly sensitized nose finds truffles right in their backyard, doubling their shop's wares. The brisk narration and colorful gouache paintings have plenty of cheek--as befits the indomitable, improbable protagonist--and the pages fly by, propelled by characters who seem always to be in motion. Like truffles (both kinds), there's plenty to savor. Ages 4-8. Agent: Brenda Bowen, the Book Group. (Sept.)

K-Gr 2--Rosie is a self-possessed poodle who walks upright, rides a bike, and has such a keen sense of smell she can "smell the stale breath of a sleeping mole" deep underground. Unable to help her human family at their chocolate truffle shop (where the chocolate is, of course, poisonous to dogs), Rosie runs away to the city to seek employment. Stints as a museum guard dog, a show dog, and a guide dog don't work out, but she finds her calling when she responds to an ad for a job as a truffle hound. She becomes an expert but misses her family and returns home where, to her surprise, the smell of truffles (the fungi kind) is in the air. Reunited, Rosie's family now happily sells both kinds of truffles. Painted in gouache with lots of greens and peachy pinks, the naive illustrations are cheerfully comic and packed with dainty details to explore. They pair perfectly with the quirky, lighthearted text. A recipe for each type of truffle is included. VERDICT There is plenty to entertain young listeners and viewers in the pages of this lark of a picture book; not an essential purchase, but a charming one.--Jan Aldrich Solow, formerly Fairfax County P.S., VA