A Little Look-See

Mutts #6

by Patrick McDonnell

The fun and mischievous daily adventures of head mutt Earl and his kitty chum, Mooch, take center stage in Patrick McDonnell's Mutts collection, A Little Look-See . As with McDonnell's previous collections, the always-adorable Mooch and Earl can be counted on for hearty laughs and endearing moments as they share their pets'-eye views when "their peoples" are not around. In A Little Look-See , we learn through Earl and Mooch that yes, animals do practice those irresistible expressions that melt our hearts, and we witness a not-so-dignified debate over the age-old question of who is dogs or cats?

The creative style and classic charm of Mutts earns McDonnell the admiration of loyal readers, prominent national organizations, and fellow cartoonists, as well as frequent comparisons to cartoon-strip greats such as Peanuts and Calvin and Hobbes . In 2000, McDonnell received the National Cartoonists Society's highest honor, the Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year for 1999. With a following that spans 20 countries, Mutts has also garnered notice internationally, winning Germany's prestigious Max & Moritz Award for best international comic strip. Go ahead and take A Little Look-See at the spectacular world of Mutts .

Genres: Comics, Humor, Cartoon, Comic Strips, Cats, Animals, Childrens

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Patrick McDonnell’s comic strip, MUTTS, is celebrating its 30th anniversary, having appeared in over 700 newspapers across 20 countries. MUTTS has received numerous awards for its artistry and its animal and environmental themes. These include the NCS Reuben for Cartoonist of the Year, seven Harveys and the Eisner Humanitarian Award. Charles Schulz called MUTTS “One of the best comics strips of all time.”

BREAKING THE CHAIN: THE GUARD DOG STORY, a collection of his newsworthy story centered freeing MUTTS chained dog, Guard Dog, will be published in fall 2024.
McDonnell’s latest book is THE SUPER HERO’S JOURNEY, a graphic novel love letter to Marvel Comics and Jack Kirby. It was on 11 ‘best of’ lists for 2023.

THE ART OF NOTHING, an oeuvre of McDonnell’s work, comprehensively celebrates Patrick’s comic strip career. McDonnell is also the author of New York Times bestselling picture books, including THE GIFT OF NOTHING and the Caldecott Honor winning ME...JANE (a childhood biography of Dr. Jane Goodall). Both have been adapted as musicals for the Kennedy Center stage. In addition, he has collaborated with spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle on GUARDIANS OF BEING and with poet Daniel Ladinsky on DARLING I LOVE YOU. HEART TO HEART: A CONVERSATION ON LOVE AND HOPE FOR OUR PRECIOUS PLANET is a collaboration with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. His Holiness has said “It is my hope that this book will open the eyes, minds and hearts of all people.”

In 2021, Ohio State University hosted Side Effects, a major exhibition of his large scale canvases. There will be a year-long retrospective of McDonnell’s comic strips, book illustrations and paintings at the San Diego Comic-Con Museum opening in January 2025.

McDonnell was a member of the Board of Directors of The Humane Society of the United States for 18 years as well as The Fund for Animals, and continues to serve as a director for The Charles M. Schulz Museum and D&R Greenway Land Trust.

You can sign up for the MUTTS daily email at mutts.com.

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Earl, a dog, and his pal Mooch, a cat, have quiet and endearing--yet funny--adventures just being themselves..

[Anne Roark · Rating 4 out of 5]

always enjoy mutts!

[Jaime Guzman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoy comic strips and do to it's popularity I have decided to read a volume of Mutts.
I picked up both volume #6 and #8 at a local book sale.
The art work in my opinion is just okay and the jokes have been done before in other strips. Every once in awhile I found myself amused and chuckled a bit but those were few and far between.
I'll try reading volume #8 next and see how it goes.

[Mary Catelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read some more of Mooch and Earl's adventures.

A Little Look-See has dreams of Africa, a story at the seashore about a loan shark, and a lot of one-shot.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of course I give this book 5 stars! I fell in love with these characters and Patrick's work from their first appearance in the newspaper nearly 30 years ago, and in this 6th collection Mutts is still going strong. Patrick McDonnell is one of the greatest cartoonists of our time. Doing a daily strip is hard.... I know from experience!... and yet Patrick so deceptively simply captures the character of this cat and dog and their world and charms us every day, including in this collection.

[Mommooshka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like all Mutts books and comics, this was full of joy, love, humor, and touching moments. It's always a delightful diversion to read Mutts!

[Mike Aragona · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm glad there are still so many of these compilations left for me to read :) It makes a really nice change to be able to go back to the "reliable" books for a good smile and laugh :)[return][return]You can see that Patrick is experimenting in this volume as gag strips are set up and run for a good two weeks or so before a final pay off (for example, Mooch and Earl sitting on a street corner and having various people pass them by on which they comment).[return][return]The cast of characters grow, and the main cast we love so much continue to be as zany, whacky, and especially as funny as we remember them to be :) The hardest thing for me to do is suppress my laugh-out-loud guffaws while reading this book on the train :)

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

typical Mutts: sweet, endearing, loveable, pro-animal, pro-environment

notes: Sourpuss and Shtinky join Noodles and Mooch in their romantic pursuit of Schnelly; a strip in honor of Charles Schulz' first Peanuts strip appears on p. 50; Mutts perform their version of the Nutcracker

[Constance · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just discovered this book and boy am I happy! Love his gestural, right-on line and fabulous sense of humor. This book will make you happy, be you dog-lover or be you cat-lover.

[Michael P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superb writing and art combine with gentle, life embracing humor that appeals to the best part of us makes MUTTS one of the great comic strips of our time. Enjoy this book.