WELLINGTON'S RAINY DAY

Beck’s attempts to gross out readers continue with her latest, seemingly innocuous title, about a hungry dog.

Wellington’s day is not going very well. The fire is out, his bowl is empty, his nose smarts from a scratch thanks to Honey the cat and his afternoon walk will be in the rain. And that meatloaf smell—it’s too tempting to pass up. So, after a lengthy drink from the toilet, he devours his master’s dinner…and the contents of the garbage can, which are described in all-too-vivid detail. As he lies belching, his arch-nemesis, Honey, takes the opportunity to torture him with threats of tattling. Welly’s stomach just can’t take it. With a great spew of synonyms and adjectives he vomits and then proceeds to lick it all up again. By the time he returns home from a rainy walk, he feels he is very deserving of punishment since he has ensured his master will be hungry. But when Honey gets the blame, his guilty feelings magically evaporate. Kerrigan’s pencil-crayon and watercolor-wash illustrations portray a rather droll, floppy-eared dog and a spiteful cat. Thankfully, her artwork is not as detail-oriented as the text.

This is one for only the strong of stomach or Xtreme dog lovers. (Picture book. 4-8)