Flo & Wendell

Starred review from June 24, 2013
Wegman continues his string of Weimeraner stories, but he tweaks his approach. Instead of dressing big sister Flo and younger brother Wendell in actual clothing, he paints lumpy, toddlerlike bodies below photos of their stately dog heads with strokes of gouache. Flo and Wendell appear in scenes of hilarious domestic ordinariness, clad in baggy pullovers or baroque creations from the dress-up box. The tongue-in-cheek text is just as gratifying. Flo at a schoolroom desk: “Flo is very sophisticated. She can read and write. She can even tie her shoes.” Flo glowering out of a baby carriage, her parents standing protectively over her: “When she was little she couldn’t. She didn’t have shoes.” The story might be regarded as a gentle parody of brash and sequined little girl stories. In any event, the contrast between the dogs’ deadpan stares and their lives of suburban industriousness—“Some of Wendell’s recipes are better than others,” Wegman writes as Wendell stands howling at a kitchen table covered with containers of tuna, ketchup, and chocolate syrup—will raise grins from even the crabbiest readers. Ages 3–5.

July 15, 2013
An artistic departure into mixed media will spark the interest of Wegman fans in this new offering featuring his famed Weimaraners. Flo and Wendell are siblings who have different interests but like to play together ."..sometimes." This basic premise carries the loosely constructed text, with pictures far overshadowing the achievement of the writing. In a striking departure from previous titles, Wegman paints atop his photographs to dress up his characters and render the scenery. The visual impact is playful and whimsical, with the painterly, colorful gouache contrasting comically with the serious, almost formal faces of the photographed dogs. Ultimately, the text serves to set up various scenarios for pictures, which include depictions of Flo and Wendell's parents (their father is a painter, their mother a knitter who even knit a sweater for the family car) and scenes of the pups playing hide-and-seek, among other activities. The result is a book that lacks a story and reads more like a catalog of amusing, whimsical pictures, culminating with a scene of Flo reading Moby-Dick to Wendell before he falls asleep, using a stack of books as a pillow. A sure hit for Wegman fans, but a miss for those who want a story. (Picture book. 3-6)

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