Pawcasso: a lovable dog that divides & unites a community

 

Pawcasso a graphic novel by Remy Lai is ideal for elementary and middle school libraries and classrooms.  It's a sweet and engaging mystery about a dog without a leash who goes shopping in a community where nobody knows its name.  A lonely and curious girl named Jo follows the dog one day so much that people mistake her as the owner and she fails to correct them. As Jo and the newly named dog, Pawcasso, make more friends, will Jo be able to solve the mystery of the dog's owners before she is caught?  Her ideas for how to find the owners lead to some especially humorous moments!  Readers can share their solutions for solving this problem.

Although this may look like a simple story, the story line and character of Jo are well-developed, layered, and perfect for discussions.  Jo's dad is away on work and she misses him terribly.  Pawcasso gives her a reason to leave the house and have an identity outside of her family.  Jo's responsibility for the dog takes her to various parts of the community: to a dog grooming shop, bookstore, ice cream parlor and art class.  At one point she even engages in laughing at a mean, old neighbor, Mr. ICCC who just complains to the city council all of the time.  As she's making fun of him, she wonders why it is that he is that way. 

Jo's lies about Pawcasso start to get away from her.  There are numerous close-calls when she could get caught and she's determined to keep quiet until she's solved the mystery of Pawcasso.  It also doesn't hurt that she's making connections with people in her community that she would never have made, otherwise.  She says, "I made a chihuahua-sized lie, but it snowballed into a Great Dane-sized lie."  One reason the news spreads about Pawcasso is that photos of him on his shopping trips go viral.  Readers can think about the pros and cons of going viral in today's world.  Where do people's rights to privacy start and end?

I love the art connections in the story.  The art students study Pablo Picasso and his cubist style of art.  They also learn about Marcel Duchamp, his rival.  When the town is eventually divided over leash-laws, they call each camp a Picassos (anti-leash laws) and Duchamps (pro-leash laws).  This is a real-world problem that readers can relate to in their own communities.  Students can debate the pros and cons of these types of laws and research what their community has voted to uphold.

Jo also joins a book club where they discuss the question, "If love comes from the heart, does hate come from the brain?"  Readers can discuss their impressions of this questions and give examples of their opinions.  At the end of the story Jo makes a grand speech where she gives her answer.  Does the reader agree with her interpretation?  Also, how do readers feel about how the story was resolved?  There are a number of twists and ways in which different characters' struggles parallel each other's.

Finally, a bonus at the end of the book is an ice cream recipe that is safe for dogs and "hoomans!"