  | Full Text Reviews: Booklist - 07/01/2017 After bedtime, Jo Jo the St. Bernard pals around with an Afro-haired baby, while the parents remain clueless. Though similar in theme to Alexandra Day’s tales of rottweiler Carl, these adventures happen on a smaller—and sometimes more believable—scale. While the parents enjoy alone time, the baby gets out of the crib and slides down the stairs in a laundry basket, with Jo Jo along for the ride. Dog and baby devour a cake, observe the moon, and get back into the crib. Jo Jo is blamed for everything and banished to her cage—until the baby releases her, declaring “Out!” Like the Carl books, the story is illustration-driven, with minimal text—fewer than a dozen different words are used. The acrylic, found paper, and digital artwork appears in a mix of partial-page sequential panels and full-page spreads, creating a pleasing pace. To reflect the nighttime setting, the palette is often very dark at times, though the action is always clearly delineated. Hopefully, Jo Jo has more adventures to come. - Copyright 2017 Booklist. Loading...
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