Friday, August 13, 2010

Wet Dog! by Elise Broach

Wet Dog! by Elise Broach, illustrated by David Catrow

Rating: 5 wet stars

Since I berated Elise Broach's sibling/new baby book What the No-Good Baby is Good For the other day, I had to applaud this awesome book.  This book is SO fun to read that I am constantly requesting Lorelei and Ben to request it.  The rythym makes me want to be a professional story teller at our local library.  I tap my toes and slap my knee.  David Catrow's images once again make me laugh out loud; I know all too well what happens when a wet dog shakes its stinky hair and lets loose a rainshower of dog drizzle.

If your child has a dog in her life, there is no way you can pass this one up!  Especially if that dog is a hairy one like our Golden Retriever was growing up.  (We have short-haired weims now...I'll never go back to the long-haired dogs, or so I say today.)  It is such a funny book! 

The wet dog you see panting on the cover goes on a quest to get wet, and he bumps into a bunch of different people who can help him achieve this goal.  A guy washing a limousine, a lady making bouquets of flowers, some guys making music by a lake.  They all shoo him away immediately when he starts to shake and get them wet, and he goes on his way: "pat-a-pat, pat-a-pat, pat."  All the people he encounters are actually going to a wedding, which the wet dog easily crashes with his dog drizzle.  All the grown-ups are dismayed by the wetness of the wet dog, but a little baby welcomes him: "More, wet dog, more!"  Soon the baby's laughter is contagious, and the grown-ups are all getting in on the wet fun.  In the end, instead of getting yet another "Shoo!  Go on now, SHOOO!" the wet dog hears: "Hoo-ray, wet dog!  Hoo-ray!"

Lorelei and Ben love how the entire wedding party and grown-ups just jump into the lake with the giggling baby and wet dog--David Catrow is such a favorite in our house, but this might be my favorite of his books of all the ones we've read.  (Click on the tab below to see his other books I've reviewed.)  Elise Broach is also at her best here; most of her books are simple prose, but this is a sing-songy poem reminiscent of a banjo folk song, hence the aforementioned foot-tapping and knee-slapping. 

Dog lovers (especially miniature ones): you've just got to read it!

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