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Letters from the Campaign Trail: LaRue for Mayor | 
 enlarge | Author: Mark Teague
Publisher: The Blue Sky Press
Category: Book
List Price: $16.99
Buy New: $2.75
You Save: $14.24 (84%)
New (35) Used (18) from $2.71
Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 313220
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Ages 4-8
Pages: 32
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 12.1 x 9.1 x 0.5
ISBN: 0439783151
EAN: 9780439783156
ASIN: 0439783151
Publication Date: March 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Ike finds his civil liberties at risk when Hugo Bugwort, the hard line mayoral candidate, promises to crack down on free-roaming, fun-loving dogs. As the anti-dog rhetoric escalates, Ike is compelled to join the political fray and run for mayor himself. Bugwort rethinks his pooch-policies when Ike selflessly helps rescue him after he collapses at a campaign rally. Told through letters to Mrs. LaRue and local newspaper accounts, Mark Teague delivers another excellent execution of split-screen visuals and uproarious escapades of the unforgettable Ike.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 Mischievous Mayor-A Top 20 Book for This Year! December 23, 2008
M. Allen Greenbaum (California)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"LaRue for Mayor..." has loads of mischief, suspense, great llustrations, an unusual, varied format, and a loveable canine protagonist. It's one of the best kids' books I've read this year. Moreover, while outlandishly funny, adults will appreciate that current human political events make Mark Teague's wonderful story almost plausible.
When former police chief Hugo Bugwort's "Law and Order" candidacy takes on a decided anti-canine stripe (due in no small part to the antics of Ike LaRue and friends), LaRue decides to run against him! He enters the fray (one that he partly created) partly because his his letter-writing campaign was sufficiently persuasive.
"'As a longtime resident, I must decry the wave if anti-dog hysteria sweeping over our city. Can we so quickly forget the loyalty of Man's Best friend? ... WHo rescues the weary traveler stuck high in the Alps? ...Dogs, that's who!'
Signed,
A Concerned Citizen"
Ike sounds very high-minded (he does have a way with words), but readers know better about the (very funny) extent of his duplicity. Like Daniel Pinkwaters' muffin-stealing bears, Irving and Muktuk, Ike plies his pious (and false) innocence with nervy denial!
In one particularly clever two-page spread illustrating, Teague shows Ike's portrays manipulations by portraying him as Charlie Chaplain in "The Gold Rush," eating an old boot by a single candle, in a black and white picture above Ike's irate letter about the "ridiculous...lurid reporting" of ongoing dog problems. On the opposite page, we see the real Ike pounding away as his typewriter, Rocky Road ice cream in front of him, a school of ready-to-eat fish beside him.
Ike is not above dirty canine tricks in his quest to keep the town dog-friendly: He enlists his dog friends and the ice-cream truck driver in a plot to heckle his opponent, and gain himself hero status. There's a bipartisan conclusion, however, as Ike and Hugo discover the good in each other (even as Ike's doggie friends continue their mischief!).
It's all in good fun, even when Ike write Mrs. LaRue that Hugo is "Vicious and unstable, if not insane." Ike is given to such hyperbole, and is not above defacing BUgwort's campaign poster. Still, the tone is light and small-townish, the two candidates are painted in such broad parodic strokes that it doesn't seem mean-spirited, and the relative innocence of a past era give this a light breezy feeling. The narrative is funny and well-paced, and the variety of illustrations (letters, newspaper headlines and stories, montage-like pictures within pictures) -- newspaper artices) --all vividly drawn and easy-to-follow--make this a visual triumph as well. If you're a movie fan, think Preston Sturges.
Again, one of my favorite books of the year, and a real treat for both adults and kids from toddler age to early elementary school.
Good story, excellent artwork November 19, 2008
Ernest M. Fujimura (Scottsdale, AZ USA)
This is another excellent book in the "Ike LaRue" series by Mark Teague. The story is interesting and the artwork is excellent. This book was purchased for, and by an adult who works in a public library and came across the "Ike LaRue" series. She liked them so much, she decided to buy them for her personal collection.
More in the LaRue Series August 1, 2008
P. Marta (Guam)
Our favorite wire fox terrier continues his adventures. More fun and mischeiviousness from our funny boy!
Tells of a dog determined to uphold the laws of Snort City June 15, 2008
Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA)
Mark Teague's LARUE FOR MAYOR: LETTERS FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL tells of a dog determined to uphold the laws of Snort City - and determined to gain the votes from Intelligent Voters. His efforts take the form of whimsical, fun letters and communications with his potential voters in this hilarious story of a dog's bid for public office.
 LaRue for Mayor June 7, 2008
G. Roukes (Santa Cruz, CA USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
The bizarre behavior of the dogs in this book is no example for children in achieving their mission. I expected LaRue to be a model candidate which he was not. I would not recommend this book for children of any age although it was highly recommended in an article I read in a local newspaper. It isn't even humorous unless you think attacking dogs upsetting everything in their path is humorous.
The graphics are colorful and well done, however, that's why I gave it two stars.
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