Pretzels and Adventure, by Amy Howard, Gus Duenas (illustrator)

 Publication April 30, 2024

Follow your nose! But, what if it leads you astray? That's the situation adorable dog Beau finds himself in when he lets the tantalizing aroma of pretzels lead him astray during a game of hide-and-seek with his young owner. 

Inspired by the adventures of the author's own dog, Buddy, this is a cute story of a dog with absolutely adorable eyes. Beau and his boy Jacob are great friends and share a love of pretzels (and apparently baseball and red trucks). They stop at the park one day to play hide-and-seek. I couldn't help but smile at the cute illustration of Beau covering his eye while Jasper goes to hide. All goes well until, uh, oh, it starts to rain. That dulls the sense of smell, I assume, and next thing you know Beau is lost. He's still following his nose but it's leading him astray. I mean, he winds up on a train and bus, befriends a sweet little girl who gives him pretzels, and wanders the streets looking sadder and sadder. There's always a bit of humor to dilute any tension, however, and it isn't long before, amazingly, Beau finds his way home. It's how he gets that that makes the story special, that and the people and sights he sees. 

All in all, a sweet, fun story that kids will enjoy. The illustrations are colorful and fun. And, oh, Beau's eyes. They express his joy, fears, and love of pretzels, that's for sure. I did note he's wearing a collar and tag, which did make me question why no one looked for a phone number on it but, hey, that's something most kids wouldn't think about. Nor would they wonder what Beau's humans were doing to find him, which might be a fun question to ask at the end, "What do you think Jasper and his family were doing to help find Beau? What would you do?" In other words, it can be used as a learning experience and other stories offer other ideas. Bottom line, I enjoyed Beau's misadventures, falling into those gorgeous eyes, and imagine children will do the same. Thanks #NetGalley and #IndigoRiverPublishing for giving me this sneak peek. Now, I'm having a sudden yen for pretzels, however.