The Hallowiener by Dav Pilkey (1999, Paperback)

This is a cute little book about an extremely long wiener dog, the ridicule he receives because he is different, and the forgiveness he shows towards those who taunt him.

As always, Dav Pilkey's illustrations are colorful and humorous and his text is deliciously simple and, yet, clever. When "Oscar" the weiner dog begrudgingly dons his mommy-made hot dog-with-mustard costume for trick-or-treating, the text reads "Oscar showed up looking quite frank."

While reading, children will learn that there is normally a practical explanation behind any ghost sightings and when Oscar figures this out he becomes the hero of the neighborhood.

This book is fun for all ages! I highly recommend it for families with small children.

All of us have experienced at one point or another in our lives the feeling of being different and made fun of because of it. Little children are especially sensitive to this subject. Oscar, the dachshund in this story also feels different and gets picked on by other dogs. Then one day when the dogs themselves become afraid of something they later find out is silly, and feel ashamed and embarrassed, Oscar doesn't make fun of them, but rather helps them instead. In the end all are friends. It is a truely heart warming story and the 4-5 year old kids in my class that I read it to, absolutely love it!

After my 6 year old proudly brought home several of the the Dumb Bunnies series of kids books from the school library, and we all fell in love with the illustrations and writings of Dave Pilkey- what a hilarious, creative mind! The first graders at my sons school all fought to get to the Dumb Bunnies books and to the other Dave Pilkey books before their classmates. They all enjoyed them so much their teacher read several out loud in class to them and he said they all laughed and laughed! So I "eBayed" for any more kids books by Dave Pilkey that he hadn't had his turn at checking out in first grade library visits and we came accross The Halloweiner and several others by Pilkey. They must be very, very popular as we have had to bid heartily to get them! You and your child alike will laugh and laugh and wonder who anyones mind can be so creative, so original, refreshingly different, and extremely funny! We are all Pilkey fans now!