This is a wonderful blast from the past. Taken from mid-80s newspaper comic strips in the Gasoline Alley series, it follows the misadventures of a pathetic but funny little waif who was raised by his con-artist mother to think he was a dog, and was abandoned when one of his mother's scams fell through and she fled the country. He was adopted by easy-going Slim and Clovia and his fortunes began to improve instantly, although deprogramming him from his puppy persona was a major challenge and good for week after week of delightful dilemmas (keeping him away from fireplugs was the least of their problems). Since the comic strip characters age in real time, today (2009) Rover is married and a father himself. Without this compilation you can easily miss what makes Rover Bump so unique aside from his name. The ever-present lollipop and fractured grammar are just accents to one of the most bizarre but endearing 'child stars' ever to appear in a daily comic strip. The book is WELL worth the purchase, even for those who have never met little Rover.
