I Got a New Friend by Karl Newsom Edwards

In this new pet picture book, a brown-skinned, curly-haired little girl and a big-eared, brown spotted puppy meet each other and learn about the fun they can have together.  It's standard fare for its category, with a few points that elevate it in terms of usefulness as a book for beginning readers.

The font is large and clear, though of course it uses the curly "a" and "g" (and, for that matter, "t") that this reviewer doesn't love when looking at books for beginners.  Most sentences are relatively short, though one does stretch to 15 words.  The syntax is usually simple (e.g. "My friend likes to play outside"), and though sentences often stretch across a two-page spread, they don't carry over a page turn. There's one instance where the second half of a sentence might get lost in the illustrations, but generally the lettering is dark blue on a white background.

This book's cleverest conceit is that it's unclear who is narrating the story -- judging from the pictures, each statement could apply equally to the girl or the dog (except, perhaps, for the "She's stinky, but that's okay" spread, where the girl is sitting on the toilet and the dog is standing on the rug, and it's not obvious why the dog might be considered "stinky" in that context).  Even the final declaration, "She's my little girl!" might tip the scales in favor of the dog narrating, except that (assuming that the dog is female), that still might be something a child would say about a puppy.  While this ambiguity has certainly been utilized to great effect in other picture books (Emma Kate by Patricia Polacco comes to mind), it's nice to see it used in a book with such succinct phrasing.  Young readers who get the joke will be delighted at the interplay between text and illustrations. And they are adorable illustrations -- dog lovers will certainly be motivated to read this book!

How does it measure up to other books in consideration this year?  Well, it has a few issues that might hamper it in committee discussions, but it also has its strengths. I'd be surprised, but not astonished, to see it recognized by the Real Committee.