What's the Matter, Marlo?

Starred review from April 1, 2020
What are best friends for? Everything. Marlo and the narrator are BFFs; they read, laugh, and play games, usually accompanied by Marlo's dog, Hooper. Today's different. Marlo doesn't want to play and won't explain. The protagonist knows something's wrong and tells a joke to brighten Marlo's mood. The ploy doesn't work; in fact, Marlo gets uncontrollably angry and runs away. After searching, the narrator discovers Marlo, crying, and finally understands his overwhelming emotions without his saying anything: Observing Hooper's collar hanging from a branch over a patch of newly dug earth, the narrator realizes that Marlo is very sad. Hooper has died--a point never actually stated; the illustration speaks poignant volumes. What can a best friend do except offer a tight hug, express sorrow, and cry together with him? This heartfelt story plumbs deep feelings with economic prose, and the expressive illustrations work wonderfully with the text. Marlo's unarticulated but profound emotions are depicted via bold black scribblings and overwhelming, black backgrounds. Text in increasingly large fonts is incorporated effectively into some illustrations, as when the narrator frantically hunts for Marlo and shouts his name. Sharp-eyed readers will notice that the dog, seen through Marlo's door in the opening spread, is absent following the setup pages. Both children are white, brown-haired, and attired in typical kid garb. A sweet, reassuring validation of the power of a close friendship and empathy. (Picture book. 3-6)

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Starred review from April 27, 2020
Marlo and the narrator of this book are best friends who love dogs and dog jokes. “We read together. We laugh together. We play games together,” writes Arnold (the Adventures in Cartooning series), making his picture book debut. When Marlo falls into a funk that he won’t explain (“I don’t want to play. Go away”), an emotional void opens up—Arnold draws a scraggly black line above Marlo’s head that grows larger as the pages turn, eventually becoming so dense that the narrator seems set adrift in outer space. But however scary it is to have a close friend suddenly feel so far away, this pal won’t give up. “Marloooooo,” the child cries out, and the o’s in his name become a chain that cuts through the darkness and reaches Marlo, who is sobbing by a tree. Readers now see what the narrator discovers but doesn’t voice: Marlo is standing by the grave of Hooper, the lively dog that romped with the pair in the book’s opening pages. The directness of Arnold’s storytelling makes his characterizations feel all the more honest; what starts out as a modest book soon becomes profound and reassuring. Ages 3–6.

January 1, 2021
An unnamed little-boy narrator tells us about his best friend, Marlo. The two of them "do everything together" around their suburban neighborhood, and the illustrations often show them accompanied by a pet dog...until they aren't. One spread shows the narrator approaching Marlo, alone and dejected under a tree. There's a black scribble above the latter's head, indicating anger, as he tells his friend to go away. Unfortunately, the friend doesn't then ask the title's essential question, "What's the matter?" Instead, "I did what any good friend would do...I told a joke" -- a dog joke, to be precise. Attentive viewers may then notice the absence of the beloved pet, and understand Marlo's consequent intensification of emotion. The black scribble expands, taking over page-turns, and Marlo disappears into the engulfing darkness. His friend finds him after a frantic search and, after the two are reunited in a fully detailed scene, notices a small mound of dirt with a ball and a dog collar hung on a stick. "I realized that Marlo wasn't just mad, he was sad, too," reads the text, leading to a hug between the friends. While Arnold's story treads familiar thematic territory with its depiction of a child grieving a pet's death, it is distinguished by its trust in readers to discover key parts of the narrative through the illustrations and to contemplate the full meaning of the events and emotions.

(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

January 1, 2021
An unnamed little-boy narrator tells us about his best friend, Marlo. The two of them "do everything together" around their suburban neighborhood, and the illustrations often show them accompanied by a pet dog...until they aren't. One spread shows the narrator approaching Marlo, alone and dejected under a tree. There's a black scribble above the latter's head, indicating anger, as he tells his friend to go away. Unfortunately, the friend doesn't then ask the title's essential question, "What's the matter?" Instead, "I did what any good friend would do...I told a joke" -- a dog joke, to be precise. Attentive viewers may then notice the absence of the beloved pet, and understand Marlo's consequent intensification of emotion. The black scribble expands, taking over page-turns, and Marlo disappears into the engulfing darkness. His friend finds him after a frantic search and, after the two are reunited in a fully detailed scene, notices a small mound of dirt with a ball and a dog collar hung on a stick. "I realized that Marlo wasn't just mad, he was sad, too," reads the text, leading to a hug between the friends. While Arnold's story treads familiar thematic territory with its depiction of a child grieving a pet's death, it is distinguished by its trust in readers to discover key parts of the narrative through the illustrations and to contemplate the full meaning of the events and emotions. Megan Dowd Lambert

(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)