Wag! by Patrick McDonnell

From the Publisher

It seems that everything gets Earl's tail wagging--a bowl of food, a field of flowers, long walks, and belly rubs. But Mooch, Earl's best friend, knows what all of these things have in common: love is what makes Earl's tail wag. Patrick McDonnell, creator of the nationally syndicated comic strip, Mutts, pays an incredibly sweet tribute to his dog in a tale of wiggling and waggling, fwipping and fwapping...and every dog's secret to the joy of life.

Children's Literature

"What makes Earl's tail wag?" The irrepressible pooch's tail goes "FWP FWP…" His friends can't tell what. His tail wags for many things, from belly rubs to snowflakes, from friends he knows or would like to know to nothing at all. Finally his friend Mooch claims he knows. It is love, of course. The sketchy black, almost cartoon-y drawings express emotion even when only parts of characters are shown. The sparse story is told like an extended comic strip that tells its tale (no pun intended) with subtle variations. It requires little setting or props on its bare, tinted pages as the few words of text set up the sequence of actions leading to the heart-warming conclusion. Reviewer: Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 3—McDonnell's expressive characters, Earl the pooch and Mooch the cat, move from the award-winning "Mutts" comic strip to this slim picture book to answer the question, "What makes Earl's tail wag?" On page after page, readers see a stimulus that creates the response: belly rubs, sitting in a field of flowers, or playing ball. But McDonnell's question is deeper than that—what is it about these things that makes Earl so happy? After many humorous false starts (cats are famous for an absence of short-term memory), Mooch provides the answer—it's love. McDonnell knows how to use space on a page, create character and affect with a few strokes of his pen, and tell a story using a minimum of words. Children will recognize themselves and their pets in this charming story.—Lisa Egly Lehmuller, St. Patrick's Catholic School, Charlotte, NC

Kirkus Reviews

Mooch, a cat of many personalities and curiosities, and his very best friend, Earl, a philosophical and kindly Jack Russell terrier, present many answers to the ancient question: "What makes Earl's tail wag?" In an interactive dialogue, readers of the personable (animalable?) characters can follow the many actions and objects that cause Earl to FWIP-FWIP-FWIP his tail. It wags when playing ball, for food, his human, Ozzie, snowflakes, belly rubs and much more. Above all, "Love is the answer" to the eternal question, as Earl and Mooch demonstrate with an embrace. Sweet, gentle, delightful-all illustrated in line drawings and washes that show exactly what's needed and no more. McDonnell's simple pictures demonstrate humor, personality and keen insight into the world of the small tail-waggers, and the artist as author clearly knows the joys in the small, sweet beings' universe. Although intended for the very young, older humans-and maybe even a cat or two-will understand. Many woofs and FWIPs for this charming book. (Picture book. 3-6)

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