Henry

wanted

one thing

in life.

He wanted

a tail.

All the other dogs

he knew had tails.

Grady, a black Labrador,

had a great big black tail.

Pip, a pug, could do

tricks with her tail.

Larry had a big

puffy ball tail....

WHAT WAS

HENRY TO DO?

"Both fanciful and contrived, Kate Feiffer's (Double Pink) story about being careful what you wish for also feels labored. It begins ingenuously if wordily: 'Henry wanted one thing in life. He wanted a tail. Henry was a dog with no tail. And this made him sad.' Livening things up, Jules Feiffer departs from the simple lines of his Bark, George for insouciant, loose-lined charcoal and watercolor illustrations that sprawl across the page, suggesting action even when their subject is at rest. After an introduction to the supporting cast — a Labrador, pug and poodle, all indebted to the art for their individuated personalities — the text turns to extended puns to propel an essentially quixotic plot. To buy a tail, Henry goes to a tailor, who for some reason sews up an absurdly long, button-on tail. Because his tail doesn't wag, Henry goes to a wagon maker. Although the wagon maker can't help him, Henry buys a wagon (why?), and it takes him to New York City's Battery Park, which is (of course) strewn with batteries. Now battery-powered, the tail wags Henry right up a tree, where he makes a decision: 'I think my days of having a tail are behind me.' All in all, a shaggy dog story. Ages 3-6." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Kate Feiffer is a writer, a filmmaker, a mother, and the author of four picture books for children, including Double Pink, illustrated by Bruce Ingman, which the New York Times Book Review praised for its "economy of style and understated wit," and President Pennybaker, illustrated by Diane Goode, which Kirkus Reviews called "breezy and charming and pleasingly subversive." Ms. Feiffer lives with her family on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.