Dog-Eared Reads: Upchuck and the Rotten Willy

Today in our Dog-Eared Reads book reviews, we look at the 1998 children’s novel  “Upchuck and the Rotten Willy.”

It’s written by well-known children’s author Bill Wallace, and illustrated by Daniel Slomin.

Many of Wallace’s novels are either narrated by animals or focus on their relationship with humans.

Upchuck and the Rotten Willy is one of his lesser-known works, and it was followed by the sequels Upchuck and the Rotten Willy: The Great Escape , from later in1998 and Upchuck and the Rotten Willy: Running Wild in 2000.

It’s hard being a cat. Just ask Chuck.

Especially if your best friend Louie got smushed by a car on the highway, and then your other best friend Tom moves away, and those mean poodles move into Tom’s old house.

But Chuck’s troubles aren’t through yet. His My, Katie, goes away to a place called College, and she doesn’t come back very often. Things get really lonely. Cows don’t provide stimulating conversation, and neither do skunks.

And then there’s the scary neighbor dog Rocky, and the even-scarier monster who claims he’s a dog – a Rottweiler, specifically – named Willy.

But when Chuck gets locked outside one cold winter weekend, and hounded by Rocky and the poodles, he learns that Willy is friendly – he was raised by a cranky old Siamese cat named Tuffy – and they form a friendship while trying to figure out what College is and why people have to go there.

Chuck and Willy also bond over the loss of their friends, both human and animal, and the power of a good meal.

The first-person narration is excellent, and the dialogue is great. This is a children’s book that holds up when coming back to it as an adult, something not all books can claim.

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