Cowpoke Clyde’s house was completely clean—he’d even shooed off the horseflies: “Then right behind his cookin’ pot, / he spied one thing he’d plumb forgot: / ol’ Dawg, his faithful, snorin’ friend, / all caked with mud from end to end.” Needless to say, Dawg wakes up and runs. The chase that follows—with page-turn surprises—makes for a hilarious shaggy-dog story involving fleas, a hog, bribery, cats, deception, and a mule. The rhyming stanzas are pitch-perfect, Texas-style, and plumb near cry out to be read aloud. Austin’s expressive acrylic and colored-pencil caricatures of Cowpoke Clyde and his menagerie are priceless. A storytime shoo-in!
In this tall tale told in verse, Cowpoke Clyde wants to bathe Dawg, who is dirty and muddy, but Dawg resists. Chaos ensues. Finally Clyde figures out a way to get Dawg clean (and get himself clean, too). Full color.
"A first purchase for most libraries."
—School Library Journal
"This is a story that begs to be read aloud with a twangy drawl, perhaps as part of a Western or farm-themed storytime. Plumb funny, fer sure."
—Kirkus, starred review
"[Mortensen] offers here another humorous, rhyming picture book, this one filled with clever language and anticipatory page turns that will delight young listeners."
—Booklist Online
