Blue explains that “clouds bump and tumble in the sky, / but here inside we’re warm and dry, / and all the thirsty plants below / will get a drink to help them grow!” The friends begin to relax. Before long, their familiar, now very nervous barnyard friends (Goat, Hen, Goose, Cow, Duck, and Pig) squeeze into the garage. Little Blue Truck and his good friend Toad are heading home when a storm lets loose. Is it a stormy-night scare or a bedtime book? Both! Juno may be a puppy in the Arctic Circle, but children everywhere will relate to her

The boy has beige skin and black hair, there is an inuksuk in one picture, and their town is a tidy one of wood-frame houses. The modeled clay gives Juno, the boy, and environs a sculptural, tactile quality. Del Rizzo’s vibrant, colorful polymer clay and acrylics capture the beauty of their home. Kerbel weaves facts about the Arctic Circle within a tender story of the devotion between a boy and his dog. Juno barks so loudly she summons help, saving her family-and learning a good lesson. Scared by an owl, she races back home only to find her family is in worse danger from a polar bear. She soon discovers that being the only one awake is boring-when it’s not dangerous. How can Juno be expected to sleep with the sun shining around the clock? Bored, the puppy escapes outside while her boy and his family sleep. However, watching the neighbor’s big sled dogs practice pulling a sled makes Juno want to do the same. The puppy loves her boy and spending their days together kayaking and playing near the shore. Juno was born as the sun started to shine brightly over the tundra both day and night. At the top of the world in the Arctic Circle, a young sled dog, Juno, seeks adventure.

Sun Dog by Deborah Kerbel