Vinny Gets a Job

February 15, 2020
A French bulldog named Vinny tries to get his first job, with humorous results. Vinny lives in a big-city row house with his owner, a young white woman he calls Mom, and his "adopted brother," a cat called Lester. The cat explains that Mom is gone all day at her job, so Vinny decides to get a job too. He puts on his best clothes, dressing in a bow tie, red plaid jacket, trousers, and a hat, so he has the look of a properly dressed--if very short--gentleman. Vinny finds three jobs in all: cleaning tables at a restaurant, watering plants at a flower shop, and guarding a dinosaur skeleton in a museum. Each job is misinterpreted, Amelia Bedelia-fashion, as Vinny slurps up leftovers at the restaurant, lifts his leg on the flower pots, and runs off with the dinosaur's leg bone before he finally finds his métier. The silly but funny story requires willing suspension of disbelief regarding Vinny's prior knowledge, wardrobe, access to the city, and ease in acquiring employment, but it reads as a believably humorous fantasy. Illustrations with a retro vibe use pastel backgrounds that set off Vinny's bold, plaid coat. Two wordless, double-page spreads show a circular map of Vinny's neighborhood with all the locations the dog visits. The human characters include people of different racial presentations and ages. A quirky, funny tale with an unsurprising but satisfying ending that involves the couch. (Picture book. 4-7)

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March 1, 2020

Gr 2-4-Vinny the bulldog wonders where his human mother goes every day. When he finds out she has something called a "job," he wants one, too. Lucky for Vinny, he lives in a world where dogs and cats talk, so he suits up to ask local businesses for employment. Vinny is lovingly illustrated, whether he's on all fours or standing on his hind legs in his plaid business suit. His pastel-colored neighborhood is richly detailed with a flower shop, museum, shoe store, and-of course-a library. Text is filled with dialogue as the chatty bulldog approaches various businesses for employment. Unfortunately, his tendencies to pee on plants, eat leftovers off restaurant tables, and chew on bones in the museum get him fired from job after job. When managers are fed up with Vinny's doggy antics, their angry shouts are in large, bold capital letters. But Vinny's human mom urges him to embrace his doggy nature in the end. VERDICT The story is so simple that it borders on shallow, but its message of self-acceptance is a strong one. A good book for early independent readers building basic text awareness.-Chance Lee Joyner, Wilton Public and Gregg Free Library, NH

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March 23, 2020
Every morning, the human mother to Vinny, a French bulldog, and Lester, a self-possessed cat, goes off to her job. When Lester explains that a job “is a place where you do things for other people, and then they give you food and toys,” mixed-media illustrations show Vinny dressing for success in a natty red plaid sport coat, porkpie hat, and briefcase, and then entering the labor force. But each gig comes to an abrupt halt when dog values collide with workplace culture: cleaning the table in a restaurant doesn’t mean eating the leftovers, and watering a florist’s plants apparently doesn’t entail lifting a leg. The ending, in which Vinny learns that loving his mom is a plenty important job, is more expected than satisfying. But Brodner’s debut shows a strong sense of composition and a keen sense of what makes audiences giggle, and her pup protagonist exudes an eager charm. Ages 4–8.