Hazel is All That - Perfect Picture Book Friday #PPBF

Maria Marshall
2 minutes ago
4 min read

It's way too easy to form a conclusion about a person or animal based on a first encounter or meeting. Mixing a dose of humor and rainbow-colored dogs, this picture book takes the reader on a journey of understanding and empathy as a very self-assured, even-keeled child discovers that one event can release a multitude of emotions within herself. And that since humans and dogs are "all that and more," we might not be able to trust rash first impressions.

Book cover - a girl with enormous yellow glasses, holding an ice cream cone, looks up as the faces of seven dogs reflect core emotions.

Hazel is All That

Author/illustrator: Chad Otis

Publisher: Rocky Pond Books/Penguin Young Reader's Group (July 8, 2025)

Ages: 4-8

Fiction

Themes:

Dogs, emotions, biases, and first impressions.

Synopsis:

While observing all the dogs in the park, Hazel realizes that first impressions are never the whole story of someone's personality.

Hazel has things all figured out—she is one clever girl. So, when she encounters a snarling dog in the park, she knows that dog is mean. And as her walk continues, she identifies a sweet dog, a sad dog, a naughty dog, and many more. But then something happens that leads Hazel to experience all kinds of different reactions herself, and she takes a second look at the dogs. Soon she sees that dogs—and people!—are not just one thing. We're each our own special mix of all sorts of emotions and behaviors. We're all that—and more. And what of the snarling dog? A surprise is in store for Hazel and the reader!

Opening Lines:

Hazel is all that.

mm-hmmm

Yep. Hazel has things all figured out.

What I LOVED about this book:

Chad Otis' bright, pencil, watercolor, and digitally painted illustrations have a wonderfully loose and almost child-like quality to them - from the loosely drawn, geometrically shaped birds to the teal trunks of trees. With the more realistic background buildings and light posts faded into the background. I love the ginormous yellow glasses on Hazel and her self-assured confidence.

Internal spread - on the left, a girl happily strolls into a park (Mom's leg and foot behind her) with rainbow-colored birds flying and perching on bushes. On the right, a kid kid walks by reading a book, a family walks a dog, a man in a baseball cap walks a dog, a woman walks a dog, and an orange fluffy dog and squirrel hide around an entry post.

Text & Image © Chad Otis, 2025.

But it would be boring if Hazel just strolled around the park in charge and in control of everything. So, with the page turn, Hazel comes face to face with a barking aggressive dog. Once recovered from her shock, and still completely sure of herself and her judgement, Hazel "tells it like it is. That dog is mean."

Internal spread - on the left a startled girl leans back with a look of fright on her face. on the right, an orange dog peaks around a monument, snarling, and barking loudly. Three startled birds fly off in different directions.

Text & Image © Chad Otis, 2025.

But the observant reader (perhaps on the second pass) will notice the change in the dog's demeanor and vocalizations, "g-r-r-r," as it again hides behind the post. As Hazel continues through the park with her mother, she makes more snap, first-impression decisions about the rainbow-colored dogs she sees at the park. She declares them a "good dog. . .tough dog. . .naughty dog. . .sweet dog. . . sad dog. . . happy dog, and. . . shy dog."

As Hazel sits on a park bench, confident that she has life "all figured out," about to eat her ice cream, the reader will notice a change in the behavior of each dog (unseen by Hazel) and a sneakily hidden squirrel, when . . . you guessed it. The ice cream scoop falls out of her cone. I love how the sneaky squirrel snags a bit of the fallen ice cream and smashed cone. Kids will enjoy tracking the stealthy squirrel across the pages. Chad Otis creates a wonderful social-emotional spread where Hazel experiences a range of emotions - anger, sadness, and embarrassment. Many kids will immediately recognize Hazel's emotions..

Internal spread - upper left a girl grits her teeth, clenches her hands, and yells. Lower left, she jumps off the bench and stomps on her waffle cone, glaring. On the upper right, girl sits back on the bench and cries. Lower right, the girl sits curled up into a ball, turned to the side.

Especially the teary-eyed smile when she reaches for the replacement ice cream cone mom offers. This experience with a big range of her own emotions leads Hazel to re-evaluate her snap initial judgements about the dog's personalities (and arguably, other snap judgements). As each dog demonstrates a different emotion from their initial one, Chad subtly offers kids a "guide" to understanding emotions expressed by dogs and some of the reasons for these emotions. The concise, child-like text provides young readers with an opportunity to place themselves in Hazel's shoes for a few minutes and discover (or remember) to look further than one's first impressions. This is a wonderfully entertaining celebration of the bundle of emotions and behaviors which makes up all of us.

Resources:

Photo of an origami dog head with a smiling face.

make a couple of colorful easy origami dog head's and add different emotions to each.

Photo collage of 6 origami dogs, including left to right black and brown terrier-like, small blue, boxer, dachshund, and poodle.

make a few different breeds of origami dogs (here), (here), (here), (here), (here), and (here).

check out some free customizable emotion charts & wheels.

do you have a pet? Can you tell how it feels? Watch it for a week and see how many different emotions your pet has. Or go to a park and watch dogs. How many emotions did you see?

If you missed my interview with Chad Otis on Monday, find it (here).

This post is part of a series of blog posts by authors and KidLit bloggers called Perfect Picture Book Fridays. For more picture book suggestions and resources see Susanna Leonard Hill's Perfect Picture Books.