Ragweed’s Farm Dog Handbook

Working in cheery acrylics and once again mining the comedic potential of a setting that teeters between bucolic and chaotic, Kennedy (The Farmer’s Away! Baa! Neigh!) introduces Ragweed, a wiry, googly-eyed farm dog whose loopy logic and single-mindedness bring to mind a canine version of Parks & Recreation’s Andy Dwyer. Eager to mentor future farm dogs, Ragweed offers a how-to guide essentially built around one rule: don’t do anything that’s “not your job.” (“The rooster wakes the farmer early in the morning. That’s his job. That’s not your job.”) But if you do break that prime directive, say by rolling in the mud like a pig or sitting in the chickens’ nests, worry not: there’s usually a biscuit or three in it for you, especially if you can persuade the farmer you were just keeping the chickens safe from a fox. This structure, repeated throughout with clever variations (eating grass like a cow means throwing up a biscuit, “and you can eat that one again”), makes Kennedy’s hero more endearing with every page turn. Ages 3–7. (Aug.)