Metal Mutz! - Hardcover

Grade 1-3-Having used flower petals and other natural materials to clothe the diminutive debs in Fairie-Ality: The Fashion Collection (Candlewick, 2002), Ellwand now turns to kitchen utensils, used circuit boards, and scrap metal to create a series of big, junkyard photo collages. In this tale, a robot alien tries to assemble a suitable canine companion from found items. Emerging from his garbage-can spacecraft, lonely Tinribs puts together a shiny poodle ("much too haughty"), then a bulldog ("very naughty"). Likewise, the "hot-dog dog" is "too long and low," the spaniel, "too staid and slow." After other attempts, notably an Afghan hound hung about with masses of loose wiring, Tinribs gives up. But his new creations put their doggy heads together, and shortly thereafter present him with a pup that looks just like him-revealed in a final pop-up spread that features a woofing sound chip. The plot is just a pretext for the art, but children, especially fans of Joan Steiner's Look-Alikes (Little, Brown, 1998) and its sequels, will marvel at the ingenious way Ellwand recycles recognizable metalware.
John Peters, New York Public Library
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