Synopsis
It seems that everything gets Earl's tail wagging—a bowl of food, a field of flowers, long walks, and belly rubs. But Mooch, Earl's best friend, knows what all of these things have in common: love is what makes Earl's tail wag. Patrick McDonnell, creator of the nationally syndicated comic strip, Mutts, pays an incredibly sweet tribute to his dog in a tale of wiggling and waggling, fwipping and fwapping...and every dog's secret to the joy of life.
Children's Literature
"What makes Earl's tail wag?" The irrepressible pooch's tail goes "FWP FWP." His friends can't tell what. His tail wags for many things, from belly rubs to snowflakes, from friends he knows or would like to know to nothing at all. Finally his friend Mooch claims he knows. It is love, of course. The sketchy black, almost cartoon-y drawings express emotion even when only parts of characters are shown. The sparse story is told like an extended comic strip that tells its tale (no pun intended) with subtle variations. It requires little setting or props on its bare, tinted pages as the few words of text set up the sequence of actions leading to the heart-warming conclusion. Reviewer: Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz