School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3-Austin, a small brown-and-white dog, breaks out of the pet store and begins a journey across the U.S., determined to find a real home. He starts in the Northeast and travels across three more broad regions (South, West, and Midwest) before arriving home. Along the way, smart readers will recognize clues predicting his final destination. In addition to the narration of Austin's journey, facts are presented for each of the 50 states. Czekaj's picture book is full of colorful, energetic images produced in his typical witty style, with laugh-out-loud graphic novel-style scenes from start to finish. A map of the states and capitals is color-coded by region, showing the hero's tangled route across the country. This tour of America provides a fresh and funny view, offering less details than Dan Yaccarino's Go, Go America (Scholastic, 2008), but more than Robert Neubecker's Wow! America (Hyperion, 2006). VERDICT Austin's regional U.S. geography adventure will entertain and inform early readers. A recommended purchase.-Gaye Hinchliff, King County Library System, WA © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
Dog Austin breaks out of the pet store and embarks on a journey across all fifty states (and Washington, DC) in order to find a proper home for himself. While Czekaj's comical ink and digital drawings enhance the quirky facts provided about each state, they also contribute to an overwhelming design. (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A pet-store dog tired of not having a home escapes and heads across the country in search of one.Austin, who appears to be some sort of terrier, explores the country by region, beginning in the Northeast with Maine. But although each state has some fascinating tidbit to share (some more substantial than others), none is a perfect fit for Austin. Hershey, Pennsylvania, is the home of Hershey chocolate; the world's largest fire hydrant is in Columbia, South Carolina; and a town in West Virginia hosts an annual water-tasting competition. While many of the early states feature some solid facts, their overall relevance seems to decline as Austin's search goes on, each state reduced to one or two, sometimes clichd, bits of trivia (Alaska's Iditarod, New Mexico's hot air balloon festival, the hula in Hawaii). Each state entry presents the outline of the state, the capital clearly labeled, but readers will have to turn to the endpapers to see where each state fits into the larger map of the U.S. (Endpapers also label the capitals, block the regions by color, and show Austin's route.) Cartoon ink illustrations colored in Photoshop use panels and spreads to cram as many states as possible into limited space.Not the best introduction to the country in terms of either facts or a geography lesson. (Informational picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
