In the hilarious "My Stinky Dog" we meet a little boy who loves everything about his pooch except for his...well...rather overpowering aroma.
You see Arthur really does pong. As anyone who owns a dog might (or might not) know, dogs really do reek - and it's sometimes the sort of stink that can really put you off owning a waggy drooling pal.
Alfred's little owner tries his best to describe the pong. Sometimes it's like fungus.
Sometimes it's like mouldy leaves.
Sometimes it's like stinky cheese rings, and sometimes it's just too disgusting to even try to describe.
So push comes to shove, and after a failed attempt to mask Arthur's pong with dad's aftershave or pine scented air fresheners, the boy takes drastic action and dumps Arthur in the biggest foamiest soapiest bath ever seen.
(Here's where the book departs from reality a little. No dog ever looks that happy being bathed but Arthur puts up with it like a champ!)
Soon our pongy pooch smells AMAZING! He smells like fresh spring meadows, wonderful wildflowers - but for some reason his new clean lifestyle goes to Arthur's head and he's no fun any more. He doesn't want to play in the garden, go out in the rain nor roll around in the mud.
This calls for drastic action!
It's a fabulous little message about loving people's odd little traits and perhaps even their unique aroma (though anyone who's ever worked in IT and had to share an office with a bunch of folk who start to get a bit pongy during the warmer weather may disagree with the book's sentiments a tad!)
C's best bit: Arthur himself, he might look like a green-cloud-wearing mushroom cloud but still manages to somehow be adorable.
Daddy's best bit: A lovely little message about accepting people (and dogs) despite their strange or odd characteristics. Perfection sure ain't everything!
"My Stinky Dog" by Christine Roussey is out now, published by Abrams Young Readers (kindly supplied for review).