Toodle the Cavoodle: Crunchy Munchy

Richard Tulloch

Heidi Cooper Smith

Big Sky, 2023

32pp., pbk., RRP $A24.99

9781922896704

Everyone who lives in Lillypilly Lane knows and loves Toodle the Cavoodle.  And Toodle loves them, but more than that he loves treats – juicy treats and chewy treats, crackly treats and crunchy treats and munchy melt-in-your mouth treats – and he knows just where to find them.  Sometimes they were shared and sometimes they were snaffled, but Toodle never went hungry!

But one day when he went to snaffle the treats the clippy cloppy lady always left in the dish for Princess Purrfect, the dish was empty and instantly, Toodle knew something was wrong… But how does a cavoodle raise the alarm when faced with a hostile cat and people who think he is just looking for even more food?

Ideal for sharing with younger readers who just want to engage with a good story, Richard Tulloch has turned something ordinary into extraordinary with his roll-off-the-tongue language using both alliteration and onomatopoeia while the illustrations are so full of life and colour that they almost tell the story without the words! Each character (and their name) is immediately recognisable – who doesn’t know a Sparkly-Sandals? – and a dog that is constantly on the lookout for food is very familiar!  The teachers’ notes have a strong focus in this text-to-self aspect but there are also opportunities for thinking about what is dog food and what is not – indeed, some human food like chocolate can be harmful.

This is becoming a favourite series and not just because I have my own Toodle -albeit she is now a stately lady of 14!