The Waiting Dog [Hardcover]

Carolyn Beck (Author), Andrea Beck (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up

"I dream of you every day in my spot by the slot. I sit and wait and salivate" With gruesomely delicious rhymes and wickedly joyful illustrations, this unique tale invites readers to share in a dog's ultimate fantasy as it eagerly anticipates the delivery of the daily mail -- and it isn't the letters this dog is interested in! While not for the faint of heart, this book is a grisly romp that will have kids squealing with delight and adults savoring its ghastly naughtiness as the dog joyfully devours the postman, one scrumptious body part at a time.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The light-hearted sticker on this book's cover ("WARNING: Doyou have the guts to read this book?") probably should not be taken asa joke. Within, a dog fantasizes in lengthily detailed verse abouteating the mail carrier: "A whole hand!/ Now wouldn't that be grand?/To crack a knuckle,/ or a few!/ To peel back a palm/ and chew!" Thedog's daydream intensifies, gruesomely. The floppy-eared houndimagines itself nosing deep in the abdomen of its victim, whose pinkorgans glisten in a disconcertingly moist way in Andrea Beck's (theElliot Moose series) paintings. After tugging out the intestines, thewild-eyed dog starts in on the brain. Carolyn Beck's verse ("When Igot a peek / at that/ spewing spitting hissing fissure/ yourphlegm-hacking/ up-chacking (mmmmmmm)/ lip-smacking kisser") mighttickle the sick-humor crowd, but the gore-stained walls and drippingintestines will be hard to take. Ages 8-up. (Sept.) Copyright 2003Reed Business Information

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-5-In rhyming verse, a dog recounts its grisly dream of devouring the postman. The canine's hearty fantasy meal would include "Gums, eardrums,/two droopy eyelids./Pusses and sores,/crusted or plain." It also yearns to "suck a sinus, chomp a cheek." After relishing the mail carrier's "gorgeous gallbladder," "succulent spleen," and "lovely liver," the creature comes back to reality and realizes that all it can do is "sit and wait and salivate." The acrylic illustrations show some macabre details, such as an eyeball about to pop, but none is overly gruesome. The dark humor is sure to elicit a response and the witty wordplay will appeal to older children. This book is not for the faint of heart, and potential audiences should heed the tongue-in-cheek warning label: "Do you have the guts to read this book?" An additional purchase.
Linda Ludke, London Public Library, Ontario, Canada
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Kids Can Press; First Edition edition (August 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1553370066
• ISBN-13: 978-1553370062
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,305,109 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Please don't buy this book, based on previous work., December 6, 2003

By 

Inge Saczkowski (canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Waiting Dog (Hardcover)

Andrea Beck is well known in Canada for her charming Elliot Moose series. Don't be fooled, there is nothing charming about this book. Did you forget you are writing for children? Silence of the lambs meets Harry the dirty dog. Graphic, unpleasant and sorry I spent the money. Not recommended.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Probably too much for most kids (and adults) to stomach, October 17, 2003

By 

Margaret (BUFFALO, NY, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Waiting Dog (Hardcover)

With the recent popularity in children's literature of dark subject materials with such books as Lemony Snickett's A series of unfortunate events, the re-issue of Edward Gorey's books and the gross out concepts of series with titles like like "Captain Underpants and the Big, Bad Battle of the Bionic Booger Boy"
this book seems to be an almost natural progression. However, every trend in literature has it's limits

The Waiting Dog, a poem about a dogs fantasy to eat the mailman, started off as a story told around the dinner table to adults, and one could almost see kids squealing with delight around the campfire, just imagining the scenes evoked by such lines as

"Picking Away
A chip of your hip
a snip of your chin
a nip of your lip
a strip of your shin
and the eyeball!!
SQUIRT!"
But, the actualization of these images by Andrea Beck is an entirely different matter. Those parents who would think nothing of letting their children watch slasher movies and playing violent videogames can rest assured that their child would lose no sleep over depictions of a dog with his face gleefully buried in the mailman's skull chewing on his eyeballs and brain, while splatters of blood are all over the walls, a closeup of the doomed mans'hands with wood splinters under his fingernails.

Most parents however, are probably a little more uptight.

That is not to say that this book does not have it's place Indeed, I have had great fun with this book, seeing people's reactions to it, discussing it's merit, and it certainly
fits in well with my collection of bizzare and banned books. Hopefully this book will find its audience and be marketed to adults and not as a children's book. It will either disappear into obscurity or be mired in infamy.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delicious!, January 9, 2004

By 

Artemis (Brampton, Ontario) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Waiting Dog (Hardcover)

Brings back childhood memories of being read fairytales about gruesome, gobbly characters which made me giggle with delight. This story is not only about a dog's desire of meeting his postman but the anatomy lesson that comes with it. A daring leap from the traditional mainstream children's storybooks. An absolute treat!