A puppyhood spent in a trash-strewn alley behind a French restaurant may not seem like the most auspicious of beginnings, but luckily Keeper was born with three great assets?a glorious tail, a way with words, and a healthy ego. His natural charisma leads him to relationships with several humans, from a homeless man to a photographer who turns the pup into a model famous for his sneer, but it is only after he meets little Emily that he finds his true home and his true name. Keeper tells his own story, sprinkling it with many keen observations about the natures of dogs, cats, and humans. He has a particular fondness for rhymed couplets, as in the gem (composed to pacify a couple of fierce felines): "Fur so fine! Eyes agleam!/You rival me in self-esteem!" Keeper's slight tendency toward pomposity will amuse readers, especially when they can come up with a rhyme that eludes him, and though a final rendezvous with his lifelong enemy does damage to one of his assets, he retains enough of the other two to make this story a "glorious tale." This book will find an audience, but it is more sophisticated in voice, tone, and vocabulary than Lowry's other titles for young readers, and the references to the fashion world, French foods, and Gourmet and Vanity Fair magazines may elude children. Kelley's pen-and-ink illustrations portray a dog whose rather ragtag appearance is amusingly at odds with Keeper's own vision of himself.?Eva Mitnick, Los Angeles Public Library Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.