List Price: $9.99
Amazon Price: $4.00
Average Customer Rating: 
(10 reviews)
Editorial Review: On a Fourth of July picnic with his human family, McDuff, a beloved but trouble-mongering white terrier, inadvertently allows "silent invaders" (namely, ants) to make off with the entire contents of the lunch basket. Luckily, McDuff has a way with strangers (and their picnic baskets), and in no time flat, he's finagled an invitation from a lonely older man to share his meal with the family. Rosemary Wells and Susan Jeffers's series about the earnest pooch and his expanding community of friends and family harkens back to quainter days, when baby carriers were buckled into cars with leather straps and kind gentlemen didn't mind sharing their fried chicken and devil's food cake with strangers. Jeffers's inviting paintings of 1930s cars and fashions, and of course the little white dog himself, are warm and appealing. Readers who loved McDuff Goes to School and McDuff's New Friend will enjoy this summery entry in the series. (Ages 3 to 5) --Emilie Coulter
Customer Reviews:
0 of 0 found this review helpful:
McDuff Saves the Day, 2008-01-24
The vendor did a great job. I got the book right on time. My only disappointment was with the illustrations. I own many McDuff books and the illustrations in her later books are not as detailed and crisp...something I especially loved about her earlier books.
0 of 0 found this review helpful:
Fun with McDuff & Family, 2007-11-30
This is another fun McDuff book with lovely illustrations and a nice story. The only thing I dislike about this book is that on many of the pages, there are four squares with different illustrations in them per page. I feel that it distracts from the story.
1 of 1 found this review helpful:
McDuff Saves the Day, 2007-07-05
As with all 'McDuff' stories, this book is very well drawn, and a child could tell it to an adult based on the pictures in the book, after the child had heard the story a few times. It is charmng, friendly telling of a fun family outing. All McDuff books would be good in daycares for story time!
5 of 5 found this review helpful:
A Dog's Life: Everything Goes McDuff's Way!, 2005-01-31
McDuff, the irrepressible White Highland Terrier, joins owners Fred, Lucy, and their little baby for a traditional Fourth of July picnic in this immensely satisfying book. Susan Jeffers' beautiful rich colors, blend of comic strip panels and large-format pictures, and attention to period accuracy convincingly portray the post-war patriotism, hope, and economic prosperity of the late 1940's and early 1950's. Her drawings evoke Norman Rockwell, Boy Scout magazines, and the woodblock pictures that graced early children's books, and they are a major factor in the book's huge appeal.
Rosemary Wells once again writes a McDuff series book with humor, warmth, and just a bit of mischief, qualities found in her famous "Max and Ruby" series (e.g., "Max's Dragon Shirt"). There's Lucy and Rick tomfoolery in the opening scenes as McDuff and Fred keep switching seats during the drive. Finally:
"Fred had to sit in the backseat with the baby and the chicken. 'He always gets the front seat in the end,' said Fred. McDuff stretched out in the front seat and fell into a sausage-squirrel dream."
Wells and Jeffers also pull off a clever perspective switch as we see McDuff's version of how the picnic disappeared. In McDuff's version, marauding ants "penetrated the picnic basket by the hundreds. In a few short minutes, the picnic was gone." We see five ants (only 5!) ferreting away a sandwich, and organized, orderly lines of ants absconding with cookies, candy, and cupcakes. Jeffers, as masterful with facial expressions as with large-scale compositions, shows McDuff conveniently looking away, trying hard to look innocent.
And just how does McDuff save the day? By eating the meatballs of neighboring picnicker Mr. DiMaggio. (The authors go a little heavy on an Italian stereotype here.) After DiMaggio yells for help, the family joins him in a generously shared, copious lunch. As now expected from the ever-fortunate dog, McDuff gets a turkey-and tomato sandwich out of it! A glorious fireworks display ends this idyllic Fourth, as Fred, once again, winds up in the front seat. This is an exceptional book, with outstanding pictures, imaginative humor, and a gentle but compelling narrative.
1 of 1 found this review helpful:
Wells' adorable Westie is a day saver., 2003-07-02
I really enjoyed reading this book to 16 preschoolers at the Festus Public Library in Festus, Missouri. As a storytime book, McDuff Saves the Day makes for a fun and entertaining read. The artwork and story are beautiful and creative. The plot is charming, simple and realistic, giving McDuff (a fluffy white Westie) a perfect opportunity to be the cute dog that he is. This is my first McDuff story and I thouroughly enjoyed it. All dog lovers should have this in their children's book collection.
In this adventure, McDuff celebrates the Fourth of July with his family: Lucy, Fred and the baby. A perfect day for a picnic turns into a series of mishaps that leaves the family without a picnic and a cranky baby. By the end of the story, McDuff has found a way to have a picnic and make a new friend. Fred still complains though, because McDuff always gets to ride in the front.
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