#307 of 1001 · June 3, 2021

It takes a very specific gift to create a reliably funny picture book. Witness, then, the talents of Jules Feiffer in his hilarious Bark, George. A young dog continues to flummox his mother with his bizarre behavior. Each time she instructs him to bark, he emits an animal noise quite unbefitting a dog: “Meow”, “Quack-quack”, “Oink”, “Moo”. George’s mother takes him to a veterinarian, who proceeds to reach deep (deep, deep) down inside George and pull out a series of animals—a cat, a duck, a pig, and finally a cow—ostensibly the source of the unusual sounds. Writing with a deadpan narrative style and augmenting his instantly recognizable loose line art with bright, solid colors, Feiffer mines the silliness of the premise for its full comedic potential. He leaves the question of how the animals got inside George in the first place utterly aside, as any possible answer would only detract from the humor. The twist ending, on the other hand, ratchets up the absurdity as high as it can go. #bark #dog #dogs #animals #humor #comedy #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbook #beautifulbooks #beautifulbookcovers #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookart #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks