AUTHOR: Mariann Máray
PUBLISHER: Kalandraka
GENRE: Children’s literature, picture book
READER’S NAME: Lynn Eddy-Zambrano
DATE: June 10, 2020
Milu longed for a dog of her own to love, any dog. When the stray she adopts and names “Peluso” just keeps getting bigger and bigger, has a voracious appetite that includes a taste for berries and honey, and walks, by choice, on two legs, it does strike her as curious. So Milu takes her pet to a veterinarian who informs her that Peluso is not a dog at all, but a bear!
It’s not the book’s storyline, far-fetched as it may seem, that raises reservations about recommending Milu y su perro to a young (3-8-year-olds) US audience – this scenario actually happened[i] to a family in Yunnan, China. It’s the messages Mariann Máray’s story communicates that give rise to misgivings.
The book’s illustrations, striking in composition and color, show Milu and Peluso happily doing the kinds of things best buddies do. In the real life version of this tale, however, the Chinese pet owner admitted she grew afraid of her “dog’s” aggressiveness and feared it might attack her, prompting her to contact authorities who confirmed the animal was a bear and removed it to a wildlife refuge.
After the veterinarian reveals Peluso’s true identity to Milu, the bear is taken away to the zoo, illustrated by Máray as a very sad environment where the animals peer out between the bars of tiny cages. Fortunately, reputable zoos throughout the world haven’t housed animals in such inhumane ways for decades; Máray’s images are not likely to resemble most US children’s zoo experiences.
Milu continues to visit Peluso and seeing the depression his confinement has bred, she heroically liberates him and, “juntos caminaron de regreso a casa.” And that’s where Máray’s story ends.
Is it “happily ever after”? Where, exactly, is back home?
Does “back home” mean a return to Milu’s house? The idea that you can keep a wild animal – lion, tiger, wolf, bear – as a pet is exciting and romantic, but dangerously misguided. People try it, like the family in Yunnan did, but things can turn out very badly for both animals and humans. The veterinarian was serious when he told Milu, “Este animal es muy peligroso.”
Or, maybe “back home” means taking and releasing Peluso back into the wild (implied in a couple of the illustrations?) A noble plan. When real life, trained wildlife experts determine that rehabilitation might be feasible, they carefully prepare the rescued animal before reintroducing it to its natural habitat. Milu is a child (where are the adults in her life?) and has shown she is not a bear expert – her heart may be in the right place, but she’s just not a credible agent for the job.
El perro de Milu is a children’s story. Harmless entertainment? Probably, maybe? Young kids are so impressionable, such quick learners – they pick up on and hold fast to so many ideas. So, show them what 21st century respect and love for wildlife look like. Today, when animals cannot be rehabilitated back into the wild, the world’s best rescue organizations provide them with nearly natural habitats, feed them an appropriate diet, and give them veterinary care, plenty of space to exercise and opportunities for enrichment and socialization with members of their species. It’s likely that many children, US and other, are already familiar with such programs from visits to the zoo, what they’ve learned in pre- or elementary school, or what they’ve seen on TV. Máray could have drawn on one of those programs as a model – imagine the amazing pictures she could have created to illustrate that happy ending.
