By Rob Biddulph
Published on: January 26, 2017

A story about embracing what makes you different than others and being proud of who you are.

Description:

It’s a dog’s life in the big city… Come join one busy dog on her journey to find her place in the world, in this third sublimely illustrated book from the bestselling, award-winning Rob Biddulph.
For busy dogs
A busy day
Of busy work
And busy play

But one dog doesn’t quite fit in. It’s lonely being the odd dog out, when all she wants to do is find her place in the world. She’s willing to go to the other side of the world to look for it but it might take a different kind of journey for her to discover that maybe where she’s meant to be is right back where she started.

Thoughts:

In Odd Dog Out, all the dogs look and act exactly the same. All except one. She dresses differently and does activities like sports or music differently. But being different can be lonely sometimes too and she decides to leave the town where she doesn’t feel like she fits in and travel. Maybe one day she find somewhere that she can fit in.

Through different seasons and different locations she walks and walks until she finds a place with people just like her. There she meets someone else just as different as she is who tells her that it’s good to stand out. That’s when she realizes that there is nothing wrong with her and that it is ok to just be herself.

Stand tall. Be proud.

The illustrations in the book are very interesting. At the beginning when our main dog is in the city, all the streets and activities are all are uniform and symmetrical. Everyone has on similar outfits, drives the same colored cars, even the trees look similar. Once she decides to leave, the pictures change just a bit. My favorite is found in one these pages. She’s leaving the city one night and the street lamp shines a spotlight on her and her suitcase, showing her with a tear in her eye. The words on the page are placed in just a way that they are only within that small amount of light. One word on top of another until the sentence is finished. But adding to the emotional moment are small dogs in the background that you barely can make out with one saying “Don’t go.” In fact, these words are so small and blend in so well to the background that you almost don’t notice them.

The quality of the story is quite well done. It has an upbeat cadence that allows the reader to add a lot of emotion when reading to a little one. Not to mention that the rhymes and rhythm are always on point.

Overall, a very heart-warming story about being proud of who you are and not being afraid to stand out.

Rating: 5 stars

Thanks to HarperCollins and Rob Biddulph for the reader copy and opportunity to provide an honest review.