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Suzette and the Puppy: A Story about Mary Cassatt
Joan Sweeny
Illustrated by Jennifer Heyd Wharton
Picture Book
Ages 5 to 8
Barron’s Educational Series, 2000, 0-7641-5294-7
Suzette goes for walks with her nursemaid, Marie, every day. One cold winter’s day Suzette sees a lady in the park who has a tiny little dog cuddled in her arms. The lady shows Suzette the dog and tells her that his name is Nipper.
Suzette sees Nipper and his mistress again in the spring. On one occasion she sees Nipper wearing a little yellow rain slicker and boots. On other occasions Suzette saw Nipper barking at the little toy boats in the pond. Nipper becomes a great favorite with the park goers and the policeman in the park grows quite fond of the busy little dog.
Then one day Nipper causes quite a scene at the pond when a ball falls into the water. Nipper is a very determined little dog, and not even his mistress can prevent him from pursuing the ball. Chaos ensues and many people end up very wet indeed.
This delightfully warm story was inspired by a painting created by Mary Cassatt in 1878. The painting shows a little girl sitting in a blue armchair, and there is a little dog sleeping in another chair nearby. In the story the little girl is Suzette and the little dog is Nipper.
With great simplicity the author paints a picture of what Paris was like for a little girl in the late 1800’s. A chance encounter in a park grows into so much more, and the author uses her tale to share a beautiful painting with her readers, and to tell them a little bit about Mary Cassatt and her work.
Throughout the book the unaffected prose is accompanied by soft watercolor paintings which have a definite impressionistic feel to them. At the end of the story the author has included a reproduction of the painting so that readers can see what it looks like.
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