Me, Teddy by Chris McKimmie

Allen and Unwin, 2016. ISBN 9781760291334
(Age: 4+) Highly recommended. Family, Dogs. A delightfully eclectic picture book from McKimmie will readily engage all those animal lovers and owners and those who would wish to be from the first page.
Teddy introduces himself to the reader when a pup, one which gets into all sorts of trouble chewing up the wrong things: flip flops, top of the range sandals (but only one!) and a chocolate cake. He has as a result, become a large dog of forty kilos and the pictures of him sprawled across the pages will be readily identified by those who have had a labrador, a chewing machine, a vacuum of all he sees. The wonderful illustrations, full of intriguingly different styles, colours and medium, cause the eyes to wander the pages, checking out the differences, looking for things known and unknown.
The range of illustrators and contributors adds to the eclectic nature of the text, making it a treat for the reader to pick out which is by Chris and which by members of his family. What fun they must have had choosing which bits to add, and the whole forms a model for classes to follow when they complete the book.
Teddy's days are fun filled, right down to an exhausted climb up his mattress into his king sized bed. But when the suitcases appear, Teddy knows he will be left, but a page of instructions for the live-in carer will delight the readers.
The large sized publication is easy on the eye, attractive in its depiction of Teddy eating a flip flop on the cover, enticing readers of all ages to open the book. The dog's expressions are delightful, particularly the pained look on the last page when his family returns from holidays. This is a most accessible story of the place of a dog in one family's home.
Fran Knight