The Adventures of Sir Sniffsalot and His Friends

REVIEWED BY: Wayne Walker Sir Sniffsalot, named because of his very active nose, is a dog who, along with his friends, Dally Polka Dots, Little Miss Lollygag, and the twin bunnies Hop and Squat, has five poetical adventures, such as getting his nose stuck in a pot of cherry pie filling and following his nose to a smelly garbage dump. The full color illustrations of Denis Proulx in this children's picture book will help youngsters visualize what is going on. They will laugh out loud as Dally Polka Dots gets lost while following her nose, Little Miss Lollygag wonders as she wanders, and everybody tries to figure out which is Hop and which is Squat (can you?). The stories will also encourage children to be fascinated by the world around them. I certainly found the book a good, fun read. While the author was growing up in small towns and on farms across Missouri, he amused his teachers and classmates with his humorous story writing, so he drew upon his "Tom-Sawyer-like" adventures as a child to create these stories with imaginative and mischievous characters. It was his love for his granddaughter MacKenzie that inspired his writing. To her he writes in the dedication, "Your first two weeks on this earth spent in the intensive care unit was meant to gather your family around you and awaken us to the precious and fragile gift of life. And look at you now." Other Sir Sniffsalot adventure books are planned with Snuggly Krinklesnout, Maggie Muggalubub, Sadie MaGradie, Buster Lotsenoffen, and Barker Chew Fetchit.