View source for Whiffy Wilson by Caryl Hart and Leonie Lord

{{infobox2
|title=Whiffy Wilson
|author=Caryl Hart and Leonie Lord
|reviewer=Ruth Ng
|genre=For Sharing
|rating=5
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|isbn=978-1408309193
|pages=32
|publisher=Orchard
|date=April 2012
|aznuk=140830919X
|aznus=140830919X
|cover=140830919X
|website=http://carylhart.blogspot.co.uk/
|video=
|summary=A very funny, disgusting, endearing story about a rather smelly wolf who learns a little about personal hygiene from his friend Dotty!
}}
Wilson is a terribly dirty little wolf who never washes, or brushes his hair, or changes his underwear!  His mum seems at a loss, demanding that he has a bath or he can't go out to play but Wilson, the naughty wolf, just runs away and hides!  It is only when he meets a little girl called Dotty that he does anything about how stinky he is.  She thinks he's a monster he's so smelly, and when that makes him feel sad Dotty says they can soon sort things out and takes him home for a bath!

This is one of those wonderful picture books that as soon as you pick it up you know it's going to be good, and that it will work well with teeny tots as well as those in the early years at school.  The story is fun, and has plenty of disgusting bits about Wilson's fungus between his toes, his nose picking, or his earwax to keep little ones laughing!

The whole story is written in rhyme which also gives the book a lovely fun feel.  Children can guess some of the rhymes that are coming, and the author plays on that with one where she writes ''She cut his filthy toenails, and rinsed out all the scum.  She brushed his stinky, rotten teeth, and made him was his...face!''  The writing has a nice pace to it and is very easy and fun to read aloud.

The illustrations are all delightful.  Wilson is a terribly endearing little wolf, even though he's so stinky, and the soft lines to the drawings are very sweet.  I love the picture of Dotty dragging Wilson to the bathroom - the expression on his face is brilliant!  My other favourite is a small image of Dotty cleaning out Wilson's ears with a cotton bud.  He is looking a bit non-plussed but her expression is very funny as she looks completely grossed out!

The story is more for fun than meant to be educational I think, but it might be useful for any reluctant little bathers out there.  I liked the idea that there's good dirt and bad dirt.  Dotty teaches Wilson at the end that it's fine for them to play in the mud and get mucky, as long as they wash it off at the end of the day.  I'm hoping that there will be more stories about Wilson since he's a great character and both the story and the illustrations work perfectly together!

You might also enjoy this story also written by Caryl Hart [[Don't Put Your Pants on Your Head, Fred by Caryl Hart and Leigh Hodgkinson|Don't Put Your Pants on Your Head, Fred]] or more delightful illustrations from Leonie Lord try [[The Dirty Great Dinosaur by Martin Waddell and Leonie Lord|The Dirty Great Dinosaur]].  We think you'll also enjoy [[Wolfie the Bunny by Ame Dyckman and Zachariah OHora]].

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[[Category:Caryl Hart]]
[[Category:Leonie Lord]]