Howling at the Halloween Moon: Ever Hear of a Werepup?

You've heard of werewolves...but what about werepups?

One night, when the moon was full, in a town not far from here, where every day was sunny and every night was clear, a shadowy figure crept into the McKenzie's yard. Whomever or whatever it was didn't stay long, only long enough to place a basket on the porch steps before slinking away.

Youngsters Michael and Hazel think they hear growling and howling in their dreams. When they wake up they discover that their entire yard is in chaos. The porch is chewed to pieces, the flowers in the garden are flattened and the trees are in shreds. Whatever did this damage is nowhere to be found but on the porch in a basket is a little white puppy with black spots. The kids talk their parents into allowing them to keep the pup and they name him Angel because he is so smart and well-behaved and never causes any of the typical puppy problems like chewing and snapping and piddling "little puddles where puddles shouldn't be."

After about a month, one stormy night when the clouds obscure the full moon, Michael and Hazel wake to the sounds of crashing and smashing and general mayhem. They race to discover the source but they're too late and in the kitchen they find the aftermath of a rampage. Chairs and cupboard doors have been smashed. The pantry has been ransacked and food is lying all over the place. Poor little Angel is nowhere to be seen. Footprints the size of a wolf's can be seen in the spilled flour on the floor.

The kids follow the footprints hoping to rescue Angel. Unfortunately, the prints lead up to the spookiest house in town, the home of the eccentric and shady Miss Mingle. Everyone in town avoids her house like the plague and her nasty dog is no better. The house is obscured by creepy plants like black rose vines and stink weed so the kids sneak around back and peer into a window. They are shocked to see Miss Mingle mixing a big pot of some kind of horrid potion and getting ready to feed it to Angel!

The resolution of this dramatic discovery may seem a bit contrived but it involves werepups otherwise known as Moondogs. Michael and Hazel have a hand in reconciling the townspeople and Miss Mingle. The town has a Halloween like never before.

Moondog, published in August of 2004, is the joint writing effort of Alice Hoffman and her son Wolfe Martin who is a junior in high school. Hoffman has also written several previous picture books and many books for young adults including Aquamarine and Indigo. She is also a prolific writer of adult novels including Practical Magic, the basis of the film of the same name starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. The writing is engaging and suspenseful without being too scary for the intended readership of 4-8 year olds.

In my opinion the illustrations of Yumi Heo really drop the ball on this one. They are painted using oil and acrylic and arranged in a collage fashion. I am not a big fan of collage illustration in general so I found this unpleasant to look at. Some of the text is printed at odd angles across the collage illustrations or chopped up and set in patches around the illustrations. I don't think it adds one thing to the enjoyment of the story and it is annoying to read. Normally, I wouldn't comment on the font but this book is set in 16-point Geometric 231 Bold which is hard to read, small and plain and looks monotonous on the page. The only cute part of the artwork is the puppy Angel who looks like a little white spotted terrier...we hardly notice the fangs!

I actually like this story and I loved the idea of the werepuppy. I read it to my nephew who is in kindergarten and he seemed to like it and paid attention. I questioned him to see if he was really following the plot and he did seem to understand the concept of werewolves. I asked him if he liked the pictures and he said they are "for babies." I do so wish the pictures were better because they detract from the story. It could have been much better. The collage style does not work to convey the magic and mystery of the plot. It's emotionless.

If you want to get a good mix of different make-believe Halloween characters during the season this book allows you to introduce children to the concept of the classic werewolf idea in a very non-threatening way. Check it out of the library because it is a pleasant enough book but I doubt it will command many repeat reads. The book adds some variety to the Halloween story line-up and is imaginative and can be especially funny if you happen to be the owner of a dog who, every now and then, you suspect has a streak of werepup in him.