Reginald - Hardcover

This is Jeff Newman’s first book.

PreSchool-Grade 3-A fun-loving bull lives in "the darkest depths of the Amazon." His neighbors-a jaguar, a "poisonous old frog and his gecko underlings," vampire bats, and a lunatic ape-are all bent on doing him in. Completely oblivious to his imminent danger, Reginald picnics by the river, reads, enjoys music, and, best of all, excels at the backstroke. Intrigued by what they see as his evident enjoyment, each of his neighbors, save one, learns to do the backstroke, too, and forgets his desire to make a meal of Reginald. Humor abounds in both text and the cartoon illustrations. "Weee-ha!" cries the frog as he successfully backstrokes across the pond, his crazy leg movements carrying him across a spread. The jaguar is told to "cut the hooey," when he complains, and his defeated look when his fear of the water is exposed is priceless. Reginald himself is a sight to behold with his enormous belly, red curl atop a ball-shaped head, huge mouth, and flowered bathing trunks. He calmly reads "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" while the ape salivates outside his open window, and sleeps blissfully with corks in his ears while his neighbors howl and growl their evil intents. And when the one hold-out says, "I'd still rather eatcha," the bull nonchalantly shrugs, "You can't please everybody." Pair Reginald with the equally unflappable protagonist in Colin McNaughton's Suddenly (Harcourt, 1995) for a great storyhour.
Marianne Saccardi, Norwalk Community College, CT
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