Three

A small, city-dwelling stray with a sunny disposition is unruffled by his missing right foreleg: "Every day was a skip and a hop for Three." He occasionally considers seeking out a home or family, but "mostly he walked from here to there, or wherever his nose led." He sniffs his way around, categorizing other living creatures he encounters by the number of legs they have, such as the ant he spies on a city sidewalk: "Three was happy that little six legs had an underground home, far away from busy feet." When Three finds his way into the country, he encounters many new kinds of creatures and configurations of legs--including a friendly being who offers companionship and love. A focus on leg counting and unwavering positivity ("He was happy he didn't have four legs. If Three had four legs, he might be a chair") in the face of disability and housing uncertainty may be disconcerting for some readers. Loose-lined mixed-media drawings by King (Wandering Star), though, offer a wealth of city stores, sidewalk scenes, and map-like streets, through which Three's path appears as a dotted red line as he follows a shift in circumstances. Ages 4-8. (Apr.)

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King's uncluttered and cheerful pencil and watercolor illustrations allow readers to confirm the identities of the animals under discussion. Expect lots of interaction—counting, adding, and even tracing Three's routes on two map-like spreads—when reading this aloud. One engaging story + three legs + six legs = a perfect 10. —The Horn Book

what gives the story its propulsion is Three's very doggy, glass-half-full attitude that a creature's number of legs is simply an interesting feature (an attitude that may come more easily to a quadruped than a biped). The loose-sketch-style illustrations filled with relaxed washes of color visually underscore Three's positive approach to life. . . . An uplifting story with amiable verve.—Kirkus Reviews

A small, city-dwelling stray with a sunny disposition is unruffled by his missing right foreleg . . . Loose-lined mixed-media drawings by King (Wandering Star), though, offer a wealth of city stores, sidewalk scenes, and map-like streets, through which Three's path appears as a dotted red line as he follows a shift in circumstances. —Publishers Weekly

The whimsy about leg numbers gives offbeat dimension to this story of a dog who finds an owner, and it also briskly frames Three's leg count as being just one of many leg-number variants rather than a special condition. Scrawled line and watercolor art touched with pencil textures is breezy and upbeat—The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books