Pippin Takes a Bath [Paperback]

Novelist Johansen (Torrie and the Dragon) makes her picture-book debut with this unassuming story of a dirty dog who won't take a bath. Pippin loves mud puddles, and when she finds one, "she splashed in that puddle, splish! splash! splosh!" Mabel, a cheerful blonde girl with a Charlie Brown-round face, has the difficult task of making Pippin clean once again. Every day, Mabel tries to put Pippin in a washtub, getting herself messy in the process. On the third day, a skunk's perfume finally persuades Pippin to bathe. Lum (the If I Had a Dog series) draws in a bland but upbeat, marker-and-watercolor style that recalls fashion-magazine illustration. Pippin's long ears are slender U-shaped loops, and her tail is a black curlicue. Mabel always wears a basic T-shirt and leggings, and her bouncy harvest-gold hair is a springy ear-to-ear coil. Simple flowers pop up everywhere. Five-petaled daisies bloom outdoors, and Mabel accessorizes with a floral motif. Everything comes out smelling like a rose, even when Pippin discovers a fresh puddle for the aw-shucks conclusion: "When Mabel saw Pippin, she sighed, and then she laughed. 'Oh Pippin,' said Mabel." A middle-of-the-road formula that may lose readers before the next planned Pippin and Mabel installment. Ages 4-7. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

PreSchool-Grade 2-Pippin, a large pup, likes to play in the mud but does not like baths so her young owner's attempts to clean her pet are met with disaster. After an encounter with a skunk, the dog reluctantly agrees to be bathed, first in tomato juice, then in vinegar, and finally with doggie shampoo. In the end, she's back frolicking in the mud. The story is pedestrian and overly long. Children will catch on quickly that the pooch does not like baths, but the point is made again and again. Watercolor-and-marker illustrations are engaging enough, but do little to evoke any emotions. The attempts at humor simply do not work. Pippin Takes a Bath is inoffensive, but youngsters' response will be tepid at best.
Anne Chapman Callaghan, Racine Public Library, WI
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Pippin and Mabel, a dog and a girl, respectively, will endear themselves and be instantly recognizable to any child who has ever tried to get a dog into a bathtub. Pippin likes to get intimate with mud puddles, but is not keen on washing up afterward. When Mabel tries to usher him into the tub, off he bolts, once to hide in the cattail muck, another time in the blackberry patch. Both times Pippin eludes his nemesis, both times Mabel gets even more filthy than her dog, and only one gets a bath. Just as the joke is beginning to grow stale, Pippin encounters the scent of a skunk. Suddenly a good soaking is a great ideaseveral soakings even better. Lighthearted, lightweight, Johansen's story is well-paced and charming, while Lum's watercolors dance with simplicity, conveying the affection between Pippin and Mabel in a few expressive lines. (Picture book. 4-7) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

A book that's drenched in fun...the whimsically illustrated, cartoonish story is perfect for bath- resistant kids, who will delight in the lengths Pippin will go to avoid a simple scrub. -- Kids Can Press - September 1999

A book that's drenched in fun...the whimsically illustrated, cartoonish story is perfect for bath-resistant kids, who will delight in the lengths Pippin will go to avoid a simple scrub. -- Boston Herald, 09/26/1999 --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Pippin loves to splish! splash! splosh! in mud puddles. The only problem is that Pippin hates baths! When Mabel tries to get her into the tub, the result is a hilarious all-out chase -- with Mabel the one who ends up in the bath. But a run-in with a skunk makes Pippin change her mind about baths. After much rubbing and scrubbing, the mud and the smell are gone, and all is well again -- until the next rainy day.

has written several stories for young adults. She lives in Sackville, New Brunswick.