ALA Booklist (Fri May 01 00:00:00 CDT 2009)

Houndsley loves to canoe on the lake cept with his best friend, Catina, who talks incessantly when they're on the water. While Catina loves to ride her bicycle, Houndsley doesn't. When he confesses that he doesn't know how to ride and Catina admits that she can't swim, each helps the other learn. Told in three short chapters, the stories are satisfying individually and even better in sequence. Bits of humor brighten the fluid text, while the lovely pencil, watercolor, and collage illustrations glow with warmth and good spirits. From the Houndsley and Catina series, an encouraging book on overcoming fears.

Horn Book (Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2009)

After Houndsley the dog admits to his best friend Catina, a cat, that he's scared to ride a bike because he doesn't know how, he discovers that Catina is also afraid--afraid to go canoeing with him because she can't swim. Appealing watercolor, pencil, and collage illustrations provide the perfect backdrop for this reassuring tale of learning new skills and conquering old fears.

Kirkus Reviews

Houndsley loves to take his canoe out onto the lake, but Bert the goose, his usual paddling partner, must visit a sick aunt. He's reluctant to invite his best friend, Catina, because the talkative cat does "not seem to understand that for Houndsley the joys of canoeing were the boat's silent glide over the water, the plink and plunk of the paddles..." Sure enough, she yaks and yaks. A few days later, Houndsley is gifted with a bicycle, which he most assuredly does not want: He can't ride. But he gamely goes out with Catina and Bert and promptly upends himself into an azalea bush. His confession that he can't ride a bike results in a swap with Bert for a tricycle and Catina's admission that she's terrified of the water—that's why she talks all the time—and a happy canoe outing with both friends, after a swimming lesson for Catina. Howe's gentle text deftly mixes in some sight words alongside easily sounded-out vocabulary, all while telling a sweetly engaging story; Gay's energetic watercolors brim with personality and humor. (Early reader. 5-8)