When less is more

Unless you’re a Retriever.  Then less is seldom good and lots of ball/stick/squeeky-toy throwing is never enough.

Here’s a quick recommendation for the primary grades:  Ball by Mary Sullivan

The inside cover pretty well covers it – “One word says it all: BALL!”

This IS a one word book that conveys the deep seated love and obsession a pet dog has for his red ball.

It is how he connects to the people in his world.  It’s what he plays with by himself to keep himself amused.  It consumes his dreams and his nightmares.

Each page typically has a couple of panels depicting our ball-crazy pooch engaging with his ball, trying to get his people to play ball (baby , cat and mom doing yoga not so much success – young person, game on!) and waiting by the door in anticipation of young person returning home to throw ball (oh, joy!) yet again.

The illustrations aren't all that elaborate.  They convey the dog’s emotions, playfulness and actions very well which is the whole intent of the book.  The colour scheme is pretty low key with muted yellows, greens and oranges expect for the red ball, the red hair of his young person and his dream sequences which are more vivid.  There is no way that you will not know how large this red ball figures in the life of this dog.

Highly recommended.