Review #39: Max Spaniel

Lily (age 6):  This book is about Max Spaniel.  And it is called "Dinosaur Hunt."  And it is made by David Catrow.
Dad:  It's the first book in a series.  David Catrow has illustrated lots of stories, but this is the first one he's written.  Gracie, he did the pictures in that book you just got for your birthday, "I'm Still Here in the Bathtub."
Gracie (age 9): (singing)  "I'm still here in the baaaath-tub."  Yeah, I can tell.  The dogs in that book look like Max.
Lily:  Max looks funny.
Isaac (age 10):  He looks awesome.  He's a crazy dog.
Gracie:  He is awesome.
Isaac:  Awesome!
Dad:  Why?
Gracie:  Because.  He's hairy.  And he's got a pink spot where his bum should be -- he's got a pink belly.
Dad:  Alright, tell me about the book...
Gracie:  The book is about a dog that is black and white, and his name is Max Spaniel.  And he is a spaniel.
Isaac:  He's going hunting for dinosaurs.  First he hunts in the house.
Gracie:  He can't find any dinosaurs there.  So before moving outside, he packs everything he has.
Isaac:  Like golf clubs.
Gracie:  And he's got a bowling ball.
Isaac:  And Bologna.  Bologna?!
Lily:  And a hat.
Isaac:  Why does he need a bowling ball and a golf club to go hunting?  And bologna?  He packs everything except for the kitchen sink.
Dad:  I don't know... that's a pretty big bag.  Maybe the kitchen sink IS in there.
Isaac:  I didn't mean it literally.  I meant the saying.
Gracie:  He packs everything he has.
Isaac:  He had a little too much stuff, including the bologna.
Gracie:  He packs bologna, but then doesn't use the bologna.
Isaac:  He had too much stuff, so instead he just takes the triple-large net.  He may have gotten it from a garage sale.
Elijah (age 3):  A gi-normous net.
Gracie:  So he goes outside to hunt for a dinosaur, and he still can't find any.
Isaac:  Then he started finding all these "dinosaur bones" which was really just stuff around the yard.
Elijah:  He found a branch.  And a ball!  And a shovel!  And a skateboard!  And a freaky glove.
Gracie:  And a hose and a flower and a bottle cap and Lincoln Logs.
Isaac:  I still don't get why there are Lincoln Logs outside.
Lily:  He finds the yard stuff and makes a dinosaur by hooking them together.  He built a dinosaur.  The dog.  Max Spaniel!
Gracie:  He uses bikes for hips.
Lily:  And a hose, which is the tail.  He makes up a rib and toenails.
Elijah:  What's a rib?
Lily:  A football is for the head.  Flowers for lips - which look more like a tongue.
Gracie:  He said those were lips, but it's not.  That's a tongue.
Dad:  Does Max really think he's finding dinosaur parts, or is he just using his imagination?
Isaac:  He's using his imagination.  You can't tell at first if he really thinks they are bones or not, but when you finish the book you figure it out.  It's just his imagination.
Gracie:  Does he end up using this rubber ducky?  Oh, yeah.  There's the duck.
Dad:  Did it really look like a dinosaur?
Gracie:  If I try making my eyes fuzzy on purpose, I can tell it's a dinosaur.
Dad:  If you squint?
Elijah:  (grabbing a Fisher-Price dinosaur toy) This is what a dinosaur looks like.  (Then pointing at the book) But NOT this.  This is a dinosaur.  Look.
Isaac:  The cat ran away from the dinosaur terrified.  That cat is running for his life.  Then Max was happy.
Gracie:  He's a little goof-nugget.
Dad:  This type of book is called a "beginning reader."  Did it have easy words?
Isaac:  Uh-huh.  Except for "Spaniel."  That would be a little difficult.
Dad:  But it never says "spaniel" in the story itself.  Probably the biggest word is "dinosaur," but that's a word little kids like anyway.  You guys love to read now, but can you remember back to when reading was hard work?
Isaac:  When you're first learning, you don't like it one bit.  Then -- when you learn how to read, and you're really good at it -- then you start LOVING reading.  But then after a while you go back to normal... like, you don't love-love-love-love-love-love reading, but you still like it.
Dad:  If you gave this to a kid who is just learning to read and needs easy words, is this the kind of book he or she would enjoy?
Gracie:  Yeah.  Because Max is Awesome.  He looks awesome.  He's an awesome character.  He's the coolest dog ever.
Lily:  He looks weird and funny.  He looks like he would BE funny.
Isaac:  If someone is learning to read, Max Spaniel is one of the best books to read.

Max Spaniel and a big bag of bologna, by Gracie

Max adding a golf club, er, "dinosaur bone" to his creation, by Lily

Max Spaniel, by Elijah

Max and a dino creation, by Isaac -- pieces cut from magazines

(you can click these for a larger view...)

Author/Illustrator: David Catrow
Published, 2009: Scholastic
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Time for another giveaway!  Scholastic is offering 5 prizes:

• Four runner-up winners will receive a copy of the new book.

• And one Grand Prize Winner will receive a copy of "Max Spaniel" autographed by David Catrow and a jumbo kids magnifying glass.

To enter, simply leave a comment on this post.  To make that comment worth two entries, let us know about a book (other than Max Spaniel) that you hadn't previously heard of but want to find (or did find) after having read one of the other 38 Bookie Woogie reviews.

We'll pick the winners randomly.  Be sure your comment has a way for us to contact you.

Contest runs until August 25th.  Good luck!