Poetry - Rhymes, Nursery Rhymes & Fingerplays, Fiction - General & Miscellaneous

Hairy Maclary's Caterwaul Caper

Name: Hairy Maclary's Caterwaul Caper
Author: Lynley Dodd
ISBN: 9781582463070

by Lynley Dodd

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Overview

"Hairy Maclary heard a STRANGE sound, a yowling, a wailing that echoed around . . ." What could be causing the caterwauling cacophony that brings Hairy Maclary and his friends running?

Publishers Weekly promises the "wonderfully waggish words" of the Hairy Maclary series will "tickle the funnybones of parents and children alike." Read them all!

Hairy Maclary leads all the other dogs in the neighborhood to investigate the terrible caterwauling created when the tough cat Scarface Claw is caught up in a tree.

Synopsis

"Hairy Maclary heard a STRANGE sound, a yowling, a wailing that echoed around . . ." What could be causing the caterwauling cacophony that brings Hairy Maclary and his friends running?

Publishers Weekly promises the "wonderfully waggish words" of the Hairy Maclary series will "tickle the funnybones of parents and children alike." Read them all!

Children's Literature

Leaping on lizards, bouncing on bees, and bothering blackbirds, Scarface Claw is having a very adventurous day. But anyone who has climbed high in a tree on the heels of discovery has found out, too late, that the way back down can be a frightening proposition. Indeed, climbing higher and higher, Scarface Claw finds himself stuck, prompting a yowl that sets the whole neighborhood running and noises echoing off the hectic landscape. Yaps, woofs, ro-ro-ro's, ruffs, bow-wow's, and yips bounce off the sky and rise to the tree where poor Scarface is trembling. But bedlam returns to business-as-usual when Miss Plum rescues the quivering kitty with her trusty ladder. Readers of all ages will have great fun copying the caterwaul, which leaps off the pages. Hilarious illustrations depict the cacophony that is created when animals are excited. 2000, Gareth Stevens, $21.27. Ages 3 to 6. Reviewer: Leslie Julian

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Editorials

Children's Literature

School Library Journal

K-Gr 2-- Two ``first readers'' that beginning readers may find difficult. A Dragon in a Wagon tells of a little girl's fantasies of her dog as a variety of other creatures, such as a dragon in a wagon or a moose on the loose. For the most part, the slight story skips along in rhyme until readers come to giraffe supposedly rhyming with scarf. The gnu may throw young readers off entirely since it comes first in the rhyme and the word (and animal) are so unfamiliar. Hairy Maclary's Caterwaul Caper is filled with unfamiliar words to beginning readers such as snippet and cacophony, not to mention the word caterwaul in the title. The simplistic story is of a dog, Hairy Maclary, who leads all of the other dogs in the neighborhood toward a terrible noise created by a cat caught up in a tree. Again, this is supposed to be a rhyming tale, although the last lines on most pages do not rhyme--they are more like refrains. Several words in both texts are in bold capital letters--not necessarily as new words nor as words of emphasis. There doesn't seem to be any logical reason. Each title is well illustrated with bright watercolor and pen drawings in a cartoon-like and often humorous fashion. They far exceed the quality of the texts. Other series such as the ``Rookie Readers'' (Childrens) are much better choices for beginning readers. --Carol McMichael, Greenfield Public Library, Ind.