SEIB, Luke (illus.) Tim Stanton (text) Grandpa’s Chatty Chews Stanton and Abbot Pub, 2013 unpaged $14.99 pbk ISBN 9780987478443
Grandpa’s Chatty Chews appears to be a picture book for young readers but is probably more useful as an object lesson for would-be self-published children’s book creators – seek professional advice! A story that is centred around dog biscuits that give animals the ability to speak human, which involves a swimming pool race between a girl’s dad and a water dragon and which somehow seeks to solve a mystery of missing socks is a challenge to comprehend. Further, embedded didactically in the text are enumerated points of pet care and treatment of native animals in the garden. KS