The Waiting Dog. Carolyn Beck. Illustrated by Andrea Beck. Toronto, ON: Kids Can Press, 2003. 32 pp., cloth, $17.95. ISBN 1-55337-006-6. Grades 3 and up / Ages 8 and up. Review by Valerie Nielsen. *** /4

What sort of a picture book has a fake warning sticker on the cover which reads "WARNING! Do you have the guts to read this book?" The answer is, Carolyn Beck's very first picture book, illustrated by her sister Andrea and entitled, innocently enough, The Waiting Dog. Reader beware - this is not the story of a faithful canine waiting for his young master's return from school, or his family's return from vacation. The Waiting Dog is a plunge into the fantasy life of a dog that waits for (who else?) the postman, on whom he has decidedly wicked designs. The book opens with a picture of a flop eared mutt sitting by the front door, an anticipatory smirk on his doggy face and his gaze fixed on the mail slot.

I dream of you every day

in my spot by the slot.

I sit

and wait

and salivate.

     Few readers have not had their senses assaulted by a frenzied canine (the smaller the fiercer) leaping, barking and snarling at the postal carrier who has the effrontery to deliver the mail. To see such an experience from a doggy point of view and fit for a rhyming picture book, however, takes a special degree of originality and downright nerve. Fortunately for author Carolyn Beck, her gifted sister Andrea was able to create wickedly graphic illustrations to accompany verses such as the following:

Then down your esophagus!

Down I'd plunge

Past heart and lungs

And diaphragm.

I'm an alimentary beast

I AM!

To your lovely liver

And succulent spleen

And your scrumptious stomach

Bulging between.

     Andrea Beck's depiction of the dog that waits to chew up the postman is perfect. Although he appears to be an ordinary, brown, Snoopy sort of dog, his eyes have an evil glint and his doggy smile is anything but benevolent. The Waiting Dog is his ultimate fantasy as every part of the postman provides him with culinary delight the perfect pancreas, the gorgeous gallbladder and finally the squirt of a second eyeball saved for dessert. But all good dreams must end with a dash of reality, as does this one each day when the elusive postie whips his fingers out of the slot leaving a disappointed dog to wait and salivate.

     The jacket blurb for The Waiting Dog describes the text as "deliciously gruesome," an adjectival phrase not often encountered in picture book reviews. Certainly the verses are gruesome, in the way of Jack Prelutsky's Nightmares: Poems To Trouble Your Sleep, but the illustrations are not as gruesome as might be expected. The dog's fantasy meal does provide readers with something of an anatomy lesson but, since there are no labels, individual organs are not easily identifiable.

     Librarians who are well aware of their young patrons' taste and can see themselves recommending this mischievous fantasy to a selected clientele of older readers may feel justified in purchasing The Waiting Dog. They should, however, be prepared for a plethora of "Ooh gross!" reactions from more squeamish readers. With the above caution, the book is ...

Recommended.

A retired teacher-librarian, Valerie Nielsen lives in Winnipeg, MB.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

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Published by The Manitoba Library Association ISSN 1201-9364

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