Goldie The Great and Stinky

Goldie is a golden retriever who believes his stink is his sparkle.

He is brave. He is loyal. He is also a walking swamp. Family after family loves him... then rolls down the windows and drives him back.

Until one boy doesn't pinch his nose.

Goldie the Great and Stinky is a loud, silly, a-little-sad rhyming picture book for families who are tired of the bath-time standoff. Goldie gets passed from home to home because he is gloriously, proudly, unapologetically stinky. He is sure that if he ever takes a bath, there will be nothing left of him.

He is wrong. The people who keep him love the dog, not the swamp. The bath does not erase Goldie. It just lets the hugs last longer.

Read it out loud. Groan at the taco disaster. Cheer when a skateboard goes feral. Then hand your kid the towel.

What's inside

• Seuss-style rhyme that bounces when you read it aloud
• A golden retriever named Goldie, a tennis ball with a job, and a shelter keeper named June
• Funny messes (couch, tacos, trampoline, birthday cake, a manure pile with opinions)
• A small sad beat, then a warm landing
• A bath that is an adventure, not a punishment
• A happy ending: beautiful coat, handsome smell, same Goldie
• Color on every page

Great for

• Kids ages 6-12, especially boys who treat the bathtub like a trapdoor
• Parents who want a story that does the nagging for them
• Bedtime, bath-eve, reluctant readers, dog-loving families
• Read-aloud nights when you want laughs first and a lesson second

The lesson, without the lecture: you are still you after the soap. Clean is not a trade. Clean is how love gets to stay.

Open it tonight. By the last page, somebody in your house may actually walk toward the tub.