G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Publication Datte: 1995
ISBN: 0-399-22616-8
The cover of this book has the Caldecott Honor medal on it, and this is a great picture book. The artwork would remind one of cartoons. The pictures are beautifully drawn, and there is something funny on each page of this book. Officer Buckle is a police officer in Napville. It is funny because his safety lectures put children to sleep. He is always writing safety tips on pieces of paper. For example, safety tip number 77: never stand on a swivel chair. Unfortunately, Officer Buckle is so boing that he puts everyone to sleep when he speaks. This is a problem because Napville School is not a safe place. A child falls down the stairs after being plonked in the head by a book; the teacher is standing on a swivel chair, a boy slips on a wet floor. Clearly Napville needs to get these safety messages. Then one day a police dog named Gloria is assigned to work with Officer Buckle. Gloria is the sweetest dog. At the next safety lecture, Officer Buckle is accompanied by Gloria. Officer Buckle is unaware that Gloria stands behind his back and acts out all the safety tips. She falls on her head, she jumps in the air. The children see all the antics, but officer Buckle has no idea what is going on behind his back. Once Gloria starts attending these lectures, the children start paying attention. Office Buckle receives lots of thank you letters from the children, and most of them include drawings of Gloria. Officer Buckle’s favorite letter was cut out of paper in thee form of a star, written by a little girl named Claire. She told Officer Buckle that she always wears her safety helmet. All the schools everywhere want Officer Buckle and Gloria to visit and give the safety presentation. Everything was great until one day thee speech was televised and on the evening news, for the first time, Officer Buckle sees Gloria’s antics. The picture of Gloria on this page is so wonderfully drawn because she looks sheepish and worried - she knows she may have hurt Officer Buckle’s feelings by stealing his show. Officer Buckle refuses to do any more speeches, and writes rule number 100: never turn your back on a strange dog. The next day, Napville School had its biggest accident evere, which involved banana pudding, a swivel chair, and a hammer. Letters poured in to Officer Buckle asking for his help, including one from Claire. Her letter said: “Gloria missed you yesterday, and don’t worry I was wearing my helmet, Safety Tip #7.” Officer Buckle realized that he needed Gloria to be part of his team and the students needed the safety presentations. They got back together and the story ends with their new safety tip # 101: Always stick with your buddy!
On every page there is an interesting little detail. For example Officer Buckle has a patch on his uniform with a banana peel in a red “do not” symbol. Officer Buckle’s pajamas have stop signs on them. Gloria’s helmet has a dent on it from the hammer accident. This is a laugh out loud picture book. I think children would also understand that Gloria was not behaving nicely by doing these antics behind Officer Buckle’s back. Her actions were funny but they also hurt his feelings. But in the end Office Buckle forgives her and they both learned something,
This is a great story time book, five out of five stars. Children would enjoy the story and also finding all the details in the pictures on each page.
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