Champ and Major: First Dogs

January 15, 2021
Two German shepherds take on the very important job of keeping their newly elected "dad" from working too hard. As the Bidens' dog since vice-presidential days, Champ knows his duties well and readily assumes new ones when Major arrives--first teaching the rambunctious shelter pup how to behave at home and in public and then, after the election, taking him on a tour of the White House. The low-saturation, generic, sparsely detailed cartoon illustrations look as whipped out as the blandly minimal narrative, which is so simple caregivers may need to fill in quite a lot for little listeners--like what is the job Champ and Major's dad does that's so tiring. Only one scene, of Biden addressing reporters with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris at his side, includes human figures wearing face coverings to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Still, the newest first family is at least recognizable, and Abvabi Best also gets the dogs' coloring right as well as populating the backgrounds with a diverse cast (including an Obama-era flashback of the African American first couple next to the White vice-presidential couple). If her final view, of the canines snuggled down in the Oval Office, is a bit speculative (not to say idealized), it does bring the double tribute to a cozy, companionable close. A closing timeline of U.S. presidential pets and a note on the histories of the two dogs and information about shelter pets in general add a few morsels of fact to chew on. (This book was reviewed digitally with 8.5-by-22-inch double-page spreads viewed at 79% of actual size.) A superficial tail wagger, but it's good to see the White House going to the dogs literally again rather than otherwise. (Picture book. 5-7)

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