ALA Booklist

Fergus and Sookocheff's lovable dog and hedgehog pals (Buddy and Earl, 2015) are in for more adventure, this time in the kitchen. It's bedtime, and Buddy gets worried when Earl responds to his "good night" with "bon voyage." Is Earl leaving on a trip? Will he be gone a long time? Luckily, Earl is just going for a run on the wheel in his cage, and he is surprised when, cheeks flushed with effort, he is still in the same spot. Next, Earl spies a welcoming pool in the shadow of a mountain ddy's water bowl next to the trash can d the friends try to dive in, leading to a big crash and a bigger mess. As always, Sookocheff's pleasantly cartoonish illustrations in soft colors transform the everyday appearance of Buddy and Earl's surroundings into fantastical versions of their imagined worlds. A hairbrush in a purse becomes a monster munching on a lovely lady hedgehog. A vacuum cleaner becomes a serpentine monster that Earl bravely stills with a single shout. Little ones will be tickled by the pets' playful, slightly dopey misunderstandings.

Horn Book (Mon Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2016)

Buddy (dog) and Earl (hedgehog) return for a nocturnal adventure. Without leaving the kitchen, the two take a dip in a "silvery lake" and rescue a "lovely lady hedgehog" from a "monster." The comic tension between the real and the imagined is just as evident here as in Buddy and Earl. Again, Sookocheff wrings an astounding amount of personality out of her simple, cartoony illustrations.

School Library Journal (Mon Feb 01 00:00:00 CST 2016)

PreS-Gr 2 In this delightful follow-up to Buddy and Earl (Groundwood, 2015), the trouble-making duo embark on another escapade. After their owners retire for the night, Earl the adventurous hedgehog escapes from his cage and invites Buddy the loyal dog to join him on a wild romp around the kitchen. Transformed by Earl's hyperactive imagination, the garbage bin becomes a mountain, Buddy's water bowl turns into a glacial lake, and a hairbrush stuck in a purse appears as a lady hedgehog trapped by a monster. Though at times skeptical regarding Earl's outrageous claims, Buddy nevertheless follows his friend's lead, exploring mountains and fighting monstersand inadvertently destroying the kitchen in the process. A final, wordless spread shows Earl and Buddy snoozing peacefully amid utter chaos, their owner's slippered foot about to enter the kitchen. Sookocheff's acrylic and gouache illustrations in subdued gray, lavender, blue, and beige tones perfectly capture the quiet feel of a nighttime kitchen. Her cartoonish portrayal of Buddy and Earl is both amusing and expressive, wonderfully complementing Fergus's humorous prose. VERDICT A neat story with enough hilarious high jinks to make young readers giggle out loud and look forward to more Buddy and Earl adventures. Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, formerly at Chappaqua Library, NY