Red and Rover: Fun's Never Over - by Brian Basset (Paperback)

About the Book

Follow the adventures of 10-year-old Red, a boy who dreams of going to space and loves baseball, and his dog Rover, a loyal friend and chaser of squirrels. Whether flying through space, bouncing on the moon, fishing, waiting for Popsicle Pete, or delivering the paper, these two friends do everything together.

Book Synopsis

A charming new comic collection, just right for middle grade readers, about the love and friendship between a boy and his dog! Based on the award-winning comic strip by Brian Basset.

Follow the adventures of 10-year-old Red, a boy who dreams of going to space and loves baseball, and his dog Rover, a loyal friend and chaser of squirrels. Whether flying through space, bouncing on the moon, fishing, waiting for Popsicle Pete, or delivering the paper, these two friends do everything together.

Review Quotes

Gr 3-5-Basset's latest collection of comics is a fun throwback to 1950s and 60s life. The story surrounds Red, a 10-year-old boy, and Rover, his dog/sidekick, in imaginative situations. From dealing with Red's older brother, Martin, to pretending to be astronauts, all while having full conversations, Red and Rover are constant companions. Their experiences are real-life, sometimes outlandish, and often humorous. Each page of the collection is one complete vignette in traditional comic strip format. The intermittent wordless pages, with illustrations in basic colors, allow the reader to make inferences and will attract the most reluctant of readers. Red and Rover are reminiscent of Calvin and Hobbes without their more mature vocabulary and situations. There is not a true story arc to the book because of its format, but this allows readers to draw their own conclusions about Red and Rover's adventures. VERDICT This is a solid choice for fans of series like "Big Nate" and readers who are new to graphic novels.-Katie B. Loomis
(Katie B. Loomis, Student Library Journal)

About the Author

A former editorial cartoonist for the Seattle Times, Red and Rover creator Brian Basset is also the cartoonist behind the strip Adam@Home. Brian grew up in McLean, Virginia, and is an alum of Ohio State University. He has received numerous awards for his comics, including the 2012 Reuben Award for Best Newspaper Comic Strip for Red and Rover. In February 2005, an exhibition of Basset's Red and Rover space-themed strips was held at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C. And in July of that year, an original drawing Basset had done for NASA celebrating the "Return to Flight" was carried aboard STS-114 Discovery. In addition to cartooning, Brian is also involved in animal shelter charity work. He draws from his home-based studio outside of Seattle, Washington, where he lives with his wife, golden doodle Astro, and cats Atlas and Mokie.