Sometimes when helping Monkey find a book in the library I can’t help but look at the cover and decide whether it looks a good read or not, the cover on this one made me smile instantly and a quick look through assured me it would be a good read.
Published in 2014 by Macmillan Children’s Books and written and illustrated by Catherine Rayner. I haven’t came across Catherine Rayner’s work before but she won the Kate Greenaway Medal in 2009 for another book she wrote called Harris Finds His Feet
This story follows a dog called Louie in search of regaining his smell, the smell of Louie after he has had a bath.
The bath has made him smell of roses and apple blossoms which I’m sure would smell nice to Louie’s owners all clean and fresh but poor Louie is not impressed, he doesn’t want to smell like that. Louie starts his search for his smell in the garden where he finds a fox who suggests he look in the brambles as there’s something smelly there. Louie takes the advice from the fox and starts sniffing where he finds a smelly old boot – not his smell. The snails suggest the alley where he finds stinky bins, the flies suggest the sticky sludge which after Louie has rolled around in he feels he’s starting to get his smell, but not quite. Louie then remembers the pongy pond and of course any dog owner will know Louie splashes about in the pond and his smell is back. Happy Louie goes home smelling of him, but will it last long when his owners smell him?!
I read this to Monkey at bedtime and he thought it was very funny how Louie the dog was trying to get smelly again after having a bath as so far Monkey likes the clean smell after bath time. When I asked him which was his favourite picture in the book he said all of them although he did like the picture below of the Fox. Monkey gave this book 8/10.
I enjoyed the story and having bathed my Grandparents dog after a pongy pond incident I can relate to the owner of Louie wanting a clean dog (why do dogs have to find the worst ponds to jump in)?! I loved how the illustrations seemed to pull you in and even after I had read the story to Monkey we looked at the pictures and retold the story using the beautiful illustrations, I give the book 9/10 and will be looking for other titles by this author.
Once Upon A Time Stories 