And I wondered why the chapter on male "psychology," full of stereotypes on male and female behavior, was not followed by a chapter on females, but instead by one on "gender differences." Is it because evolutionary psychologists are pretty much in the dark when it comes to female psychology (if we don't count the old stereotypes, especially about female sexuality)?

This book will find its admirers among the (self-adoring) EP crowd - but if this is not your cuppa tea, you do well looking elsewhere for psychotherapeutic insights.

The artwork is fantastic - I found myself laughing as hard as the kids were, especially at the picture of grandfather's reaction to the elephant when it first spoke. In fact, both of the stars I gave you were for the artwork alone. I couldn't find any stars in my heart for the storyline, however.

For the uninitiated: George is a dog who belongs to a little boy named Peter, whose grandfather is a zookeeper. George went with Peter to school, so it's inevitable that the dog starts speaking one day. Peter keeps this a secret while George teaches the animals at the zoo to speak and read, as well. Eventually, the animals reveal their new abilities, and the various critters teach the others their own talents - the birds teach the snakes to sing, the own taught math, and the bears taught a dancing class. After a while, George appears to become bored with it all, and simply leaves. The other animals chart George's progress around the world (based, we must suppose, on the postcards he sends back to Peter), and two pages after George leaves, he's back again. End of book.

A prime example of an excellent idea with nowhere to go. Borovsky paints himself into an untidy little corner, and rather than work himself out of it, he simply creates an unnecessary deviation from the plot, and he and his agent are the happier for it. How Greenwillow Books was strong-armed into publishing this, I'll never know, but it's somehow nastily pleasing to see it's now out of print.