cover image Mucky Pup's Christmas

Mucky Pup's Christmas

Ken Brown. Dutton Books, $16.99 (32pp) ISBN 978-0-525-46141-8

Brown's delicate watercolors are alight with affection and warmth as the fetching, flop-eared hero of Mucky Pup returns just in time to wreak holiday havoc. Banished outdoors for being ""helpful"" (he calls it sorting the mail, tasting the cake and rearranging the tree; the family calls it ruining all of the above), the penitent pooch spends the night with his barnyard friends, then frolics in his first snow. Kids will like the healthy dose of mischief, especially because all is forgiven in the end. Ages 3-9. (Oct.)