Jessie the Doo-Doo Dog and the Visitors From Outer Space

Readers first met Jessie in Jessie the Doo-Doo Dog Goes to the Vet as the little Maltipoo, a cross between a Maltese terrier and a poodle, shared her anxieties about having to go to the vet. The reviewer of Jessie the Doo-Doo Dog Goes to the Vet clarified the use of “doo-doo’ as follows: “Contrary to the slang meaning of the term ‘doo-doo’, in this story, Jessie the doo-doo dog refers to her active nature and tendency to always be doing things.” However, in Jessie the Doo-Doo Dog and the Visitors From Outer Space, “doo-doo” fully embraces its scatalogical meaning.

In the opening chapter, Jessie introduces readers to her “family” that consists of her “cousins”, a pair of Norwegian Elkhounds, Katcha and Krissy, her oft-visiting sister Jo-Jo, and her human mom and dad. One snowy evening during the dogs’ nightly walk in a park with Dad, the quintet encounters a crashed flying saucer that is crewed by two little dogs. According to Jessie, “They looked just like me – except they had green fur and a pair of matching antennas sticking out of their heads.” The duo, Lizzy and Zizzy, are “from Mars, and we’re out of gas!” However, despite the Martians’ use of the word “gas”, readers should not think their ship’s fuel tank requires a fill of a petroleum based product. As Lizzy explains:

“You see, our spaceship runs on a special fuel called poopinite. It comes from the poopinite mines back home on Mars. We visit your planet often so we know that we can always top up our tank with Earth poop. You know, what your humans call ‘number two?’ It works just as well.”

While any kind of Earth poop will do, “We need an enormous amount to get all the way back home to Mars.” With the quantity required being beyond the ability of the four dogs and one human to produce on the spot, the quintet decide to enlist the defecating aid of the various animals that make the large park their home. Not only is the dogs’ task time-limited as the Martians need to be gone before morning when their alien presence would undoubtedly be detected by other Earthlings, but it’s winter, and some of the mammals have gone to ground or are hibernating. The biggest challenge, however, is that all of the potential poop-donors are prey to the park’s apex predator, coyotes, and, consequently, they won’t commit to participating until they can be assured they have nothing to fear from hungry coyotes.

It is at this sticking point that Dad makes his contribution to the venture. The Martian and Earthling dogs have been conversing by creature-talk, evidently a universal language, and Dad, having been provided with a medallion translation device, suggests that he go home and fetch the hamburger patties that he would normally feed the dogs and offer them to the coyotes in return for their promise not to eat any of the animals. Most of the remainder of the book sees the dogs visiting the park’s rabbits, squirrels, gophers, geese, and beavers. With the sated coyotes no longer a threat, the other animals make their “deposits”; however, the contributed amount still falls short until one the “wise old beavers we had met at the creek stepped forward and inquired, ‘Where is Mike the Moose and his family?’” (See Excerpt). After the two Martian dogs take Jessie and Jo-Jo for a brief thank-you ride into space, the Martians return home as do the Earthling dogs who are looking for their morning supper.

Each of the book’s 19 chapters opens with a quatrain that hints at the chapter’s contents while a closing teaser quatrain suggests that Book 3 will involve “dinosaurs like T-Rex and things”. Illustrative matter includes two opening maps, one of “Our Neighbourhood” and the other of “The Really Big Park”. Additionally, full and partial page grayscale illustrations bring the text to live while reinforcing the story’s nighttime setting.

Jessie the Doo-Doo Dog and the Visitors From Outer Space is a light chapter book read, one dotted with some nature lore and soft life lessons.