Customer Reviews

The Waiting Dog

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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.

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.

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!

I found to the book to be real treat!
Right around the age of 8, kids are completely into all things gross and yucky. They start reading horror books and watching scary television shows (meant for youth) like "Goosebumps" or playing with those playdough sets where the plasticine comes out the nose of the toy - and the more it grosses out grown-ups the better. Do you remember being that age? Remember how much fun it was spooking your family and friends with creepy crawly things? This book brought it all back with a chuckle.
If it gets kids reading, bring it on!

well, I was intrigued by the warning label on the cover: "Do you have the guts to read this book?" And I thought, "YES." The Waiting Dog is a juicy dog fantasy written in rollicking verse, fun to read aloud, gruesome and gorey in all the right places. It's an unconventional, carnivorous love poem. Good for adventurous kids and off-beat adults. The illustrations are fabulous, too!

As a director of a small-town library, this is one of the worst children's books I've ever come across. It is very well illustrated, but the content is abhorrent, which makes it more unfortunate. Had this book been a little less graphic, it would have been a great children's book. As is, it will encourage children predisposed to violence while sickening the others. Children who enjoy this type of book bear close scrutiny. Recommended only for bondage clubs in San Francisco and prison death rows.

If you're even slightly intrigued by this book, I would really ask you to carefully read the other reviews with one or two stars. The "poetry" is vile, and the images are worse. The graphic depictions of a dog dismembering and disembowling a mailman were enough to make the adults in our house sick. The kids wanted the thing destroyed. The book ended up in our house as part of a book exchange; definitely not something anyone around here would've paid for.

Worst children's book we've ever read and/or seen. The author and illustrator, a couple of cabin-bound Canadian sisters, appear to have some serious social problems. Doubt they've ever even been around children.

I came across this book in our school library and immediately alerted the librarian. She had no idea why it was in the shelf. I can't believe this book was ever published. It is horrific and gruesome. It can be potentially very frightening for younger children. It also sends a horrible message about dogs! The dog in the story has a possessed demonic look on his face as he tears a mailman apart. The pictures show this in great detail. It looks like pictures from a crime scene. If this book is in your library, GET RID OF IT! If i could give zero stars I would have.

Brings back childhood memories of being read fairytales about gruesome, gobbly characters which made me giggle with delight. This story is not only about one dog's imagination 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!

What a FANTASTIC book. Adults and children alike will love it for it's wonderful rhymes, offbeat humour and bold illustrations with an anatomy lesson thrown in for good measure. How refreshing to see an author continuing a long tradition of 'gruesome' children's poems dating back to Dr. Heinrich Hoffmann's 'Der Struwwelpeter' from 1844. Especially in these times of so called 'political correctness' and blanding down. Kids are more durable than we give them credit for and, on the whole, will find this wickedly funny gross out tale endlessly fascinating and enjoyable.
It is a sad state of affairs that this book was not to be found on the shelves of my local big brand book shop but had to be escorted from the safety of the rear stockroom so I could have a look at it. I understand the need for some censorship but is that really necessary because, lets face it, children are exposed to far worse on TV, in video games and on the internet.