Sample book · Clay & Felt
Pickle Follows His Nose
One library. One pug. One delicious mystery.
The family in this book is made up. Yours would be painted from your photos.
10 painted spreads
or turn the pages with the arrow keys
It was Read-to-a-Dog Day. June brought her biggest voices. Pickle brought his biggest ears. They settled inside the library’s whale-shaped nook. Ms. Fern smiled. “Ready?” Pickle sat very still. For one whole second.
3
June opened her book. “Once upon a—” SNORT! Pickle’s nose twitched. Somewhere nearby was a peanut-butter sandwich. He slipped out of the whale. June followed with her book. Ms. Fern rolled her cart after them.
5
Into the dinosaur books went Pickle. Sniff, sniff, SNORT! June made her best dinosaur voice. “Rrrumble!” Pickle peered behind a soft green dinosaur. No sandwich. Ms. Fern wheeled the cart around a corner.
7
Pickle’s nose led them to the ocean books. He sniffed a felt fish. He sniffed a seashell. June whispered in her tiniest fish voice, “Blub?” Pickle answered, “Snort.” Still no sandwich.
9
Next came outer space. Pickle sniffed a round felt moon. June floated past in her wobbliest moon voice: “Oooo!” Pickle sneezed. Even the moon did not smell as good as that sandwich.
11
They tried the garden books. Pickle sniffed a felt carrot. Then the baking books. He sniffed a pretend bun. June used a squeaky carrot voice and a booming bun voice. Pickle liked the bun voice best.
13
At last, Pickle flopped. His nose had worked so hard. June sat beside him. “I saved my sleepy dragon voice for you,” she said. Pickle gave one little snort. Ms. Fern stopped her cart.
15
Pickle sat up. Sniff. The smell had stopped, too. June looked at Pickle. Then at Ms. Fern. Then at the cart. “Oh,” said June. “Your nose was following us!”
17
Ms. Fern opened her lunch bag on the cart. Inside was her wrapped peanut-butter sandwich. “My lunch!” she laughed. Pickle had chased it through the library while it followed right behind him. SNORT!
19
Back in the whale, Ms. Fern tucked away her lunch. Pickle got a little dog biscuit. June opened her book and began again, using every voice. This time, Pickle stayed still. Almost. His tail kept curling tighter.
21For June, who reads to anyone who will sit still.
On the back
June has a book full of voices, and Pickle has a nose full of questions. On Read-to-a-Dog Day, the whole library becomes one wonderfully silly place to explore.
- The cast
- June (daughter, 7) and Pickle (dog)
- The setting
- A small-town public library with a reading nook shaped like a whale
- The dedication
- For June, who reads to anyone who will sit still.
