by Alex T Smith (Author) Alex T Smith (Illustrator)
Claude is no ordinary dog--he leads an extraordinary life!
When Mr. and Mrs. Shinyshoes leave for the day, Claude and his best friend Sir Bobblysock take a walk in the park. Suddenly, a woman calls for help, and they find themselves rescuing a runaway baby carriage--with the baby still inside! To reward their heroism, The Amazing Alan invites them to watch his circus. They arrive early, and, as he's been on a cleaning frenzy lately, Claude decides to tidy up the big top. In the process, he accidentally sabotages the performers' equipment. But the show must go on--even if Claude and Sir Bobblysock have to put on the entire thing themselves!
Quirky, delightfully odd, and positively surreal, Alex T. Smith's illustrated early chapter book series promises giggle-filled bedtime reading and a laugh-out-loud option for readers transitioning from picture books to chapter books.
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Gr 1-3—Fastidious, fashionable Claude, "A small, plump dog who wears a beret and a rather fetching sweater," and his pal Sir Bobblysock treat themselves to a day at the park. When the pair attempts to be good citizens by filling in the many holes and picking up balls that litter "a funny sort of field," angry golfers chase them with raised clubs. Claude picks up a "Wet Paint" sign—"another piece of trash he found stuck to a bench." He then takes a ride on a scooter, which enables him to rescue a baby whose buggy has run downhill toward a pond. Because of this feat, the two receive free tickets to the circus. They arrive early, and "give the tent a jolly good spring clean," unwittingly sabotaging the performers' equipment and ruining the show. But the pup entertains the crowd by juggling white balls, riding in the clown cars, and flying on the trapeze with Sir Bobblysock. The friends are rewarded by getting sent home via cannon blast. When his owners return, they wonder "why Claude is wearing a glittery crash helmet...and why there's a Claude-shaped hole in the roof?" The digital black-and-white cartoon illustrations with touches of pink let readers know more about the dog's world than what the text describes. A map of the park provides the opportunity to visually trace Claude's day, and three silly jokes are appended in a "How to be a Clown" page. There is lots of fetching humor for transitional chapter book readers.—Laura Scott, Farmington Community Library, MI
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