They Moved My Bowl: Dog Cartoons by New Yorker Cartoonist Charles Barsotti

by Charles Barsotti, George Booth (Contributor)

This is the first, and long-overdue, book of Charles Barsotti's dog cartoons. Barsotti's distinctive round pups, rendered in just a few simple lines, have been delighting The New Yorker readers for three decades and are instantly recognizable for their depiction of canines in human roles. The juxtaposition of their simple world, consisting only of food, play, and the goings-on of their owners, with the utterly human tasks of going to therapy, talking business, or seeing a lawyer, is both adorable and hilarious. A dog standing at a podium announces, "If elected, I promise to beg, fetch, and roll over." An older dog frowns down at a young pup and says, "Don't be smug, all puppies are cute." An angry dog with brush in hand paints a "BEWARE OF DOG" sign. With an irresistible blend of biting humor and affectionate observation, this is a perfect gift book for dog lovers everywhere.

Genres: Humor, Comics, Nonfiction, Animals, Dogs

120 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Charles Branum Barsotti was an American cartoonist who drew cartoons for major magazine publications including The New Yorker.

Reviews

[Cookie M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Because dogs.

[Joanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charles Barsotti seemed capable of turning just about any human situation into dog humor. Whether his pups are stretched out on a psychiatrist’s couch, sitting through a meeting with the boss, or simply trying to make sense of the world, the jokes are consistently clever and quietly funny.

A fun bonus is the reprinted 1990 letter from fellow Charles—and arguably the most famous dog cartoonist of them all—Charles Schulz, who praised Barsotti’s little dogs as “the funniest cartoons anybody has done in recent years.” I wouldn’t go quite that far, but they definitely entertained me. You can see a little Snoopy in them too, with their round snoots and floppy beagle ears. The difference is that Barsotti’s dogs don’t imagine adventures—they chat with adults, trade wisecracks, and insert themselves into everyday life, and the humans actually talk back instead of making those wah-wah Peanuts trombone noises. But def a cute New Yorker collection that any dog lover will appreciate.

[Matthew]

Read this at the Vet while Pesto was being manhandled

[Jora · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was disappointing.

Thanks to an ILL (interlibrary loan), this book came to my local library all the way from Ohio! Whoa. That's a long way to ship a book for one patron. It shows how dedicated libraries are.

Anyway, I was expecting the majority of the cartoons to be funny, but only about five were. Most of them didn't make sense to me.

[Laura Rogers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love dogs? Need a break?
They Moved My Bowl is a delight! I still have a smile on my face.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

❤️

I grew up on The New Yorker, and in that illustrious group Barsotti was one of the most touching cartoonist. His dogs are the cutest.

[Giulia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adorabile ❤️

[jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute, funny and a very quick read!

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t find the majority of these funny. I laughed at just a handful of them. But that’s kind of typical for New Yorker cartoons - I just don’t find them funny. However, there were some that were ironic, or pointed, or sweet, to various levels of effectiveness, so on the whole it was an enjoyable read.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Such a fun and silly book of comics for dog-lovers. I would absolutely gift this to my fellow dog owners!

[Sakie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweet, silly book for lovers of dogs.

[Roz Ito · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really funny, fantastically drawn collection of cartoons that explore the incisive similarities between dog and man. Many punch-moments of recognition in here.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

adorable, charming, occasionally philosophical

[Deborah Milton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love these cartoons! Best in hard back in my opinion. I keep it along with a few favorites on my coffee table. A chuckle every now and then when I walk by and pick it up for a few minutes or more!

[Elizabeth A · Rating 2 out of 5]

This compilation of dog cartoons has some fun moments, but overall I found it to be just an OK read.

[zoagli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some cartoons are very funny

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charming. Not the easiest book to read on kindle.

[Ashleigh Rivers · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute, but not very funny

[Matt Ockmond · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fine collection of Barsotti's dog cartoons from the New Yorker. Like many of the New Yorker's comics they are often clever while slightly melancholic though occasionally indecipherable. The drawing is consistently simple in a brilliant way.