by Moe Zilla

Created on: September 23, 2010

"Arthur Dog was a guard at the Dogopolis Museum of Art…"

The book "Art Dog" includes a lot of puns. For example, Arthur thinks that his favorite painter is Leonadro Dog Vinci, though he also likes an artist named Muttisse. It's a fun way to make art less intimidating, but the book immediately swerves into a surprisingly exciting story. By night, Arthur puts on a robber's mask, and paints spectacular wall-sized paintings as graffiti on the sides of buildings.

Then there's an art theft at the museum. ("CRASH! A window was broken. A door was busted. BRRRINGGGG! The alarm went off.")  Scowling police dogs hunt through the alley, and one shines his flash light onto masked graffiti artist. Arthur is in a jail cell by the next illustration, but escapes by painting a window over the jail's bars.

It's an unpredictable story, and Thacher Hurd keeps the excitement coming. Arthur paints a red racing car called the Brushmobile, and fills us its gas tank with paint. He roars off into the night, "over highways and bridges…leaving a trail of paint behind him as he went." He drives off to the lair of the thieves who stole the painting - but he's outnumbered, four to one. Eventually he's cornered in a desperate situation, with only one possible path to victory: by painting.

I was impressed by this book's sophisticated illustration style, with lots of strong but unusual color choices. There's clear, two-page sketches that illustrate this complicated world full of dogs. The book was written by Thacher Hurd, whose father illustrated "Goodnight Moon." Thacher studied at the California College of Arts and Crafts, and he seems very motivated to write a story about painting.

Arthur eventually paints a masterpiece in the sky, filling it with yellow swirls in the style of Van Gogh's Starry Night. But when the story reaches its, Arthur's secret identity is still a mystery, and he smiles knowingly to himself as he returns to his job as a security guard. The art thieves had stolen a priceless Dog Vinci masterpiece which was called - what else? - the Mona Woofa. But they end up plastered into one of Arthur's own paintings, and the police arrive to thank their masked crime-fighting vigilante.

"I don't know how to thank you, Mr…"

"Art Dog," Arthur replies. (It's written on the side of his Brushmobile.)

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