Douglas, You're a Genius!

June 15, 2018
The mystery of new neighbors on the other side of a high fence leads Nancy and her dog, Douglas, to a bilingual surprise in a confident follow-up to Douglas, You Need Glasses! (2016).One day when Nancy and Douglas hit a ball through a small hole in their fence, it's rolled back. After sending over a toy train with a message of greeting, they receive messages in Spanish including, "¡Hola!" and "Queremos conocerte" ("Hello" and "We'd like to meet you," respectively; an opening glossary is provided for those who don't read Spanish). This makes the duo so curious that Nancy hatches a series of elaborate, graph-paper-diagrammed schemes to somehow scale the fence. When, thanks to Douglas, the two finally meet their Spanish-speaking neighbors, another kid and dog who were also busy trying to meet them. It ends with plans for an escalator and water slide, because of course it does. Adamson's wit extends not only to some bits of subtle visual humor (some birds build a nest on Douglas' head while they wait), but to the paper plans themselves, which are as needlessly elaborate as they are funny. If there's a missed opportunity it's that readers don't get to know the Spanish-writing pair at all, even their names. Nancy and the neighbor kid both have pale skin.If Adamson can make so much entertaining hay out of a simple day in the backyard, it's likely we'll be seeing more Douglas stories. (Picture book. 3-7)

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July 1, 2018
Preschool-G Playing cricket, Nancy and her dog, Douglas, watch their ball disappear through a hole in the wooden backyard fence and, mysteriously, roll back again. They call out, Thank you! No response. When they send a model train through the fence with a message, it returns with words such as �Hola! Nancy carries out a series of over-the-fence plans involving a trampoline, bottle rockets, and her intrepid canine pal. All end in disappointment, but after Douglas takes charge, they discover a new Spanish-speaking friend and his dog, who help to connect their yards via tall escalators (powered by Rube Goldberg-style contraptions) and long slides. The droll text of this sequel to Adamson's Douglas, You Need Glasses!? (2016) reveals the main characters' complaints, grumbling, and flighty ideas, as well as their shared sense of purpose and ultimate triumph. Meanwhile, the lively pencil-and-watercolor illustrations feature expressive, cartoonlike characters and intriguing details. A natural for classrooms taught in both English and Spanish, this amusing picture book also shows that goals can be reached cooperatively through planning, ingenuity, and goodwill.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)