Stinky Spike the Pirate Dog by Peter Meisel (review)

Shipyard dog Spike prefers a cuisine that emits the “nastiest, ickiest, foulest” of stinks one could imagine, so you can probably guess how scrumptious he himself smells. Three short chapters follow Stinky Spike on his maritime travels, as he falls into the ocean, escapes sharks thanks to his foul odor (bad luck, though when his stench also turns away a helpful whale), and uses his super sniffing nose to help pirates find treasure—or at least what Spike would consider treasure. This easy reader is certainly successful in utility: There is lots of repetition and alliteration, sentences are concise and to the point, and the book’s structure effectively scaffolds the reading process as a whole. There’s little plot tension and some clunky transitions, though, and while the watercolor effects of the color illustrations match the maritime setting, the draftsmanship is stiff. Still, if Captain Underpants is any indication, stink sells, and Spike is an amiable and odoriferous crewmate for novice readers.