CARL’S NOSE

Carl is a cheerful chocolate lab in a red plaid shirt who serves as the town weatherman because of his highly developed sense of smell. He excels at sniffing out impending bad weather, which is all too common in the dreary town of Grimsville. During an unusual stretch of fine weather, Carl’s forecasting abilities fail him, and he sinks into a depressed state of constant napping. The lethargic lab finally pulls himself out of bed to track down a missing friend by the scent from his smelly shoes, leading to a new career as a rescue dog. Schmidt uses some sophisticated vocabulary and perspectives in her work: For example, the conclusion is revealed subtly through a newspaper’s front-page news articles glimpsed on the volume’s final page, and other plot points are conveyed solely through the illustrations. Many of the watercolor-and-gouache paintings are dark and subdued to convey the depressive nature of Grimsville, but Carl remains an appealingly earnest character, who might use his advanced olfactory skills to find more cases to solve in further installments. (Picture book. 4-8)