Heyman (Exit from Home) takes a creative approach to addressing a pet's handicap by allowing the dachshund herself to narrate. Readers first meet the star as she is today: "I am Gretchen, the bicycle dog. However, I wasn't born on wheels." Photographs of the narrator as an irresistible, normal pup ("scarcely higher than a blade of grass") follow, and she describes her "curious nature, which got me into some trouble." One day, she hears the family cat give a loud meow, jumps off the bed to see what's going on, and injures her spine. Photographs show Gretchen curled up in sorrow when she loses use of her hind legs ("For a time, I was very sad"). Her human family helps her cope; photos show them rigging up towels on which she can slide along the floor, and also a sling under her hind legs so she can exercise her front ones. Then one day the family presents her with her "very own custom-made, upholstered, padded cart!" With her hind legs through the padded stirrups, Gretchen can go almost everywhere she once went on her own four legs. The upbeat presentation of snapshots, outlined in bright crayon colors, occasionally punctuated with childlike drawings of a bone or a barking dog, and plenty of humor ("Children said I looked like I was riding a bicycle"), let readers know throughout that the story has a happy ending. This tale of determination and optimism may well inspire not only pet owners but children facing their own challenges. Ages 3-7. (Mar.)
