Wiener Wolf

Title: Wiener Wolf
Author/Illustrator: Jeff Crosby
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Publication Date: July 5, 2011

I have not had a picture book make me laugh as much as this one did for a long time. 

Wiener Wolf could be a word-less picture book and still be hilarious.  But it does have words, and they make it even better!

Wiener Dog has found life with Granny to be a bit lame.  Kind of like we all find life sometimes.  But then he sees a television program about wolves and decides that they have the life. Off he goes to the nearest State Park to join a wolf pack.  But is the forest on the other side of the TV really greener?

The illustrations in Wiener Wolf are vivid and exaggerated.  Weiner Dog has a great variety of expressions, and readers can tell that the author/illustrator Jeff Crosby has spent a good bit of his life with his own wiener dogs, Baron and Fritz. 

Though a bit unrealistic when it comes to a wiener dog living with a pack of wolves and not being eaten, Wiener Wolf holds great lessons about contentment, friendship, and love.

Have you had a time where the "other side of the fence" looked better? How did you learn otherwise?

Apple Pie ABC

Title: Apple Pie ABC
Author: Alison Murray
Publisher: Disney Hyperion Books
Publication Date: May 31, 2011


Although I am not generally a fan of ABC books, this one caught my eye because of my love for apple pie.

When an apple pie is hot and fresh out of the oven, one little pup is determined to:

Find a crumb of it,

Get a taste of it and 

Have a lick of it.

Progessing through the alphabet, author Alison Murray tells a story that makes you hungry, too.  Can this puppy get his paws on that wonderful smell?

The two letters that might require a little more explanation are O and P.  The pup Ogles and Pines for the apple pie.  These words are not typically a part of the vocabulary of a child who is learning their alphabet.  Q and X, two often-stretched letters in books like this one, were handled nicely. However, Z uses sleep as it's example, and I did personally dislike this.  

Other than these small issues, Apple Pie ABC is a delicious introduction to the alphabet.

Who makes your favorite apple pie?