A Pack of Your Own by Maria Nilsson Thore (review)

Reviewed by: A Pack of Your Own by Maria Nilsson Thore Natalie Berglind Nilsson Thore, Maria A Pack of Your Own; tr. from the Swedish by Annie Prime; written and illus. by Maria Nilsson Thore. Pushkin, 2023 [48p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781782693581 $18.95 Reviewed from digital galleys R 4-7 yrs A coffee-drinking dachshund looks forlornly out their apartment window, lamenting that other dogs are so different from them. The dachshund wears a robe instead of a collar, walks on two feet instead of four, bathes in a tub, and prefers a toilet over a tree at the park. Still, yearning to find another pup "who loves fancy hats, clever crosswords . . . or the aroma of coffee," the dachshund dons a collar and heads out, only to be horrified by the barbarism of dogs playing roughly and urinating where they please. Dejected, our doggy protagonist returns home, followed by a poodle who is intrigued by their behavior at the park. Contrary to the dachshund's wishes, the poodle is boisterous and swallows their coffee by the mouthful—but the two have fun anyway, and the dachshund is able to acknowledge that friends with differences aren't so bad as long as they accept your own quirks. The refined narration [End Page 110] of the dachshund, translated from Swedish, is accented by the grayscale pencil art on cream-colored pages, with slight pops of color for the dachshund's brown body and the subdued red of dog collars. Pages effectively utilize negative space to depict the dachshund's loneliness, alternating between text with one smaller illustration and detailed sprawls of flowery wallpaper, tiled floors, and the elaborate rugs which decorate the dachshund's home. The unique art, distinctive canine protagonist, and touching theme about not needing to change to be worthy of friendship will make this picture book a memorable hit at storytime. Copyright © 2023 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois