McDuff & Friends Friendship Box [Box set] [Hardcover]

Rosemary Wells (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2, 2001 | Grade Level: P and up | Series: Mcduff

This adorable carrying case includes three of the best-selling McDuff books and full-color of McDuff stickers - McDuff Moves In, McDuff Comes Home, and McDuff and the Baby.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Lovable white pooch McDuff has a real knack for finding his way home--and into readers' hearts. A handy little box with a snap closure and a red handle holds three of Rosemary Wells and Susan Jeffers's quaint, 1930s-style tales about this West Highland terrier, as well as a sheet of nine McDuff stickers. In McDuff Moves In, the resourceful pup bounces out of a dogcatcher's truck and finds his way to a new home with a couple named Lucy and George. He manages to get lost while chasing a rabbit in McDuff Comes Home, but a nice old woman straps him into her motorcycle's sidecar and helps him find home again. "Only child" McDuff is in for a bit of a rude awakening in McDuff and the Baby: "Every day in every way McDuff was happy. But one day a stranger arrived. It was a baby." McDuff needn't have worried. No one can resist his charms, even in competition with a newborn.

These three small read-aloud books, sized just right for a child's hands, are a wonderful introduction to the dreamy, old-fashioned series by two well-loved creators of children's books. (Ages 2 to 5) --Emilie Coulter

About the Author

Rosemary Wells is the award-winning creator of over fifty books for children, including Yoko and Emily's First 100 Days of School, and stories based on such beloved characters as Max and Ruby, Edward and Timothy. AUTHCOMMENTS:

Product Details

• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion (March 2, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786806664
• ISBN-13: 978-0786806669
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 6.3 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,956,257 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AS CUTE AND AS SWEET AS IT GETS!, February 9, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: McDuff & Friends Friendship Box (Hardcover)

If you love darling little fluff-muffin dogs, it doesn't get any better than this! The cute purse-like container has McDuff's sweet face on it. Inside are three of the best McDuff books, plus stickers. Any kid would LOVE this. I bought one for myself, it was so darn cute and reminded me so much of my own precious terrier. This is the present I'm going to give every small child from now on. The illustrations of McDuff are absolutely on the mark: This illustrator REALLY knows what terriers are like--their poignant, wistful looks; the way they hold their bodies; and a million other endearing characteristics. Also, children are sure to be stimulated by these wonderfully simple but thought-provoking and unsentimental little stories about, for example, how McDuff gets jealous over a new baby, and how McDuff gets lost but finds his way home. All of the McDuff books are absolutely top-notch. They will warm your heart!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars McDuff warms hearts!, October 20, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: McDuff & Friends Friendship Box (Hardcover)

In the first three books of this charming series, McDuff finds his new "forever" home with a happy young couple, explores the neighborhood and deals with the homecoming of a new baby into the family. Warm, innocent and beautifully illustrated, the McDuff books capture the impish and loyal character of Westies-- and a simpler era that is a welcome antidote to our recent times. Buy them, by all means-- for adults or children of any age!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Writer and Illustrator Duo, July 25, 2006

By 

M. Allen Greenbaum (California) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: McDuff & Friends Friendship Box (Hardcover)

The McDuff series lovingly recreates a small New England town of the late 1940''s or early `50's. The frontispiece shows a neighborhood of gables two and three-story house, some with curved roofs, masonry, and picket fences, all with tall chimneys nearly touching the treetops. It's immediately welcoming. When we meet a cute (!), big-eyed, white terrier, our hearts are completely won over. McDuff is a dog's dog: He's got a nose for food, a watchful eye, and he's full of terrier energy.

This review will focuse on "McDuff Comes Home," one of three stories included here. In "McDuff Comes Home," our canine hero discovers that the kitchen window is closed. Alas! He can't bask on his Adirondack chair and savor the usual "snappy scent of Fred's frying sausages, the velvety smell of Lucy's vanilla rice pudding." (In a book set in the post-war era, I wonder if this is a thinly veiled reference to Fred Mertz and Lucille Rcardo...). Undistracted by food, McDuff notices and then chases a large brown rabbit, loses his collar, and finally collapses in a cozy vegetable patch--just the spot for a snooze.

The garden owner heads for the police station with the lost dog in her motorcycle sidecar--another wonderful touch--but McDuff's "woofs" guide them back to his home instead. Here, Fred and Lucy serve a lavish 1950's lunch: Period dishes piled high with apple pie, perhaps a dozen thick sandwiches, an entire ham, and various cheeses and dessert. McDuff, looking very content, sits in his Adirondack, about to eat a favorite treat, "a small dish of vanilla rice pudding with a sausage slice on top."

Veteran writer Rosemary Wells (the "Max and Ruby" series) keeps things moving, and the story is neither too dense nor too blandly simple. Some writers seem to slap on contrived "funny" endings but Welles blends an unforced comic twist with an integrated, reassuring conclusion. Caldecott Honor winner Susan Jeffries' great sense of period style adds to the series' appeal. The colors are smooth and saturated; the contours rounded and inviting--the book exudes welcoming, friendly warmth. Jeffries takes chances with her youngest audience in one 2-page spread that shows a curving trail of repeated Cuffs and the rabbit meant to show the zigzagging trail of their chase. This may confuse some small fry, but it's a delightfully energetic scene, enjoyable on its own (and somewhat older kids will have little difficulty understanding an adult's explanation). "McDuff Comes Home" is just one great story in this collection of three, and it masterfully blends active and soothing scenes to delight child and adult, both day and night. The McDuff series is another winner from Rosemary Wells (with copious help from illustrator Susan Jeffers), the author who gave us the bunny antics of Max and Ruby.