Hairy Maclary's Caterwaul Caper (Picture Puffins) [Paperback]

Lynley Dodd (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 13, 1989 | Series: Picture Puffins

Scarface Claw, the biggest cat in the neighbourhood, is out exploring when he gets stuck up a tree. The noise is terrible - so terrible that it draws Hairy Maclary and all his friends from Donaldson's Dairy to investigate. Young children will love to join in making all the different noises.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 2-- Two "first readers" that beginning readers may find difficult. A Dragon in a Wagon tells of a little girl's fantasies of her dog as a variety of other creatures, such as a dragon in a wagon or a moose on the loose. For the most part, the slight story skips along in rhyme until readers come to giraffe supposedly rhyming with scarf. The gnu may throw young readers off entirely since it comes first in the rhyme and the word (and animal) are so unfamiliar. Hairy Maclary's Caterwaul Caper is filled with unfamiliar words to beginning readers such as snippet and cacophony, not to mention the word caterwaul in the title. The simplistic story is of a dog, Hairy Maclary, who leads all of the other dogs in the neighborhood toward a terrible noise created by a cat caught up in a tree. Again, this is supposed to be a rhyming tale, although the last lines on most pages do not rhyme--they are more like refrains. Several words in both texts are in bold capital letters--not necessarily as new words nor as words of emphasis. There doesn't seem to be any logical reason. Each title is well illustrated with bright watercolor and pen drawings in a cartoon-like and often humorous fashion. They far exceed the quality of the texts. Other series such as the "Rookie Readers" (Childrens) are much better choices for beginning readers. --Carol McMichael, Greenfield Public Library, Ind.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Publisher

* Hairy Maclary books have sold more than 4 million copies worldwide. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Puffin Books (March 13, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140508732
• ISBN-13: 978-0140508734
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.1 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,492,330 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lynley Dodd is an award-winning author/illustrator enormously popular for her rhyming stories of the memorable Hairy Maclary, Slinky Malinki, Schnitzel Von Krumm - and many others! She worked as a teacher before beginning to write her own books in 1974. Lynley lives in New Zealand.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not O/P in Australia, May 1, 2000

By 

saliero (NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hairy Maclary's Caterwaul Caper (Gold Star First Readers) (Library Binding)

I see these Lynley Dodd books all the time.

"With a twitch of his tail and a purposeful paw, down by the river crept Scarface Claw."

Oh, that gorgeous, alliterative "purposeful paw"....who said children's books can't employ language so inventively! makes all the run of the mill, pedestrian stuff look as ordinary as it really is!

This MIGHT be my favourite Dodd. All the dogs from Hairy Maclary are there, and the old bully, Scarface Claw who turns out not to be as tough as his own publicity might assume!

There are fantastic opportunities in this book to make great noises, as Scarface Claw and the dogs all make their own noises....and how deliciously appropriate are each...

Schnitzel Von Krumm: YIP-YIP Bitzer maloney: BOW-WOW-WOW-WOW Muffin McLay: RUFF-RUFF Bottomley Potts: RO-RO-RO-RO-RO-RO Hercules Morse: WOOF Hairy McLary: YAP-YAP-YAP

and Scarface Claw? WROWWW-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-

"The din was so awful that up hill and down, you could hear the CACOPHONY all over town." Gorgeous.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Caterwaul together!, January 14, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Hairy Maclary's Caterwaul Caper (Gold Star First Readers) (Library Binding)

Our 3 children have loved this book with all the different dogs and the sounds they make. One child makes the yowling cat sound and I do the dogs. They occasionally join in and it can become very entertaining. It just depends on how mellow or raucous you want to be. The story is simple but cute and the rhyming is creative and catchy.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful sound effects, October 24, 2000

By 

Kathleen Cobcroft (Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hairy Maclary's Caterwaul Caper (Gold Star First Readers) (Library Binding)

Before even thinking about reading this one aloud, grab a really big glass of water. All the dogs from the first Hairy Macleary are back and making all sorts of barks, and then there's the sound that echoes around...

If you haven't read any Hairy Macleary yet (and why not!!?), they are great read-aloud stories with plenty of tumpity rhythm and rhymes. (Not to say that you can't secretly grab one and read it quietly, too.)