Okay, one more post today because 1. I haven’t updated Well Read in a shameful amount of time, 2. I absolutely adore this book, 3. I haven’t done nearly enough posts that focus on anything but YA fiction, and finally 4. I’m trying to avoid doing laundry.  I may be Well Read, but I am certainly not Well Pressed.

The Great Dog Bottom Swap came to my attention thanks to another colleague of mine, Julian, who demanded that I stop what I was doing and read the entire thing on the shop floor.  Looking back I think he was daring me not to laugh, but laugh I did and I know you will too.   The basic premise is an explanation of why dogs greet each other by sniffing each other’s bums…a question that I know has kept many a parent and child alike awake long into the night.   It all goes back to a fabulous party where the dogs who attended were asked to remove their bums and leave them in something like a cloakroom.  The illustrations are top notch and the rhyming quality of the story will make it a good one for early readers…though I wouldn’t discount it as a favourite for parents alike to read aloud…if you can stop laughing long enough to read, that is.

This is a fantastic find in picture books that is destined to become a classic.  We gave it to my niece recently for her birthday and while she (at age two) was more fascinated with the birthday cake shaped hat that played “Happy Birthday” that accompanied the book, the adults at the birthday party read it aloud and laughed until they cried.