Apocalypse Bow Wow

Gr 2–5—An apocalyptic event has occurred and the only known survivors are a handful of house pets, a rat, and a Zen-wise spider who was trapped inside a copy of Sun Tzu's The Art of War. Brownie and Apollo, two dogs, are clueless as to what has happened outside their home and so set about their normal routine, first waking up and arguing over why Apollo gets to sleep on the couch, followed by Brownie looking for something to eat. After worrying about when their people will return home, the friends set out to search for food, only to walk out amid scenes of chaos and destruction, realizing that, in fact, all of the people have gone. Their search leads them to an abandoned grocery store where they make allies and come face-to-face with a rival pack who wants to overtake the store. The story is broken into 30 short, dialogue-heavy scenes. The paneled artwork has a distinctly hand-drawn quality and is printed in grayscale. This unpolished look at times makes it difficult to distinguish among characters. Despite it being the end of the world, the story feels as though it's missing an overall sense of urgency. As a result, readers may lose the gravity of the circumstances these characters live in or they may struggle to push through sets of uneventful scenes waiting for something to happen.