[BOOK REVIEW] Walter the Farting Dog: Trouble at the Yard Sale by William Kotzwinkle and Glenn Murray

Title:  Walter the Farting Dog:  Trouble at the Yard Sale

Author:  William Kotzwinkle and Glenn Murray

Artist:  Audrey Colman

Genre:  Family / Humor / Potty Humor / Animals / Pets

Year Published: 2004

Year Read:  2016

Publisher:   Dutton Children's Books

Series: Walter the Farting Dog #2 

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 6+ (Some Gross and Crude Humor)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

After I read the first book in the “Walter the Farting Dog” series, I was yearning to read more from this hilarious and unique series and lo and behold, I picked up the second book in the “Walter the Farting Dog” series “Walter the Farting Dog: Trouble at the Yard Sale,” which was written by William Kotzwinkle and Glenn Murray, along with illustrations by Audrey Colman and it was just as hilarious as the first book!

The book starts off with Father, Betty, Billy and Walter having a yard sale, but there were no customers coming to their table during the sale.  Walter the Farting Dog wonders why this is the case (although his constant farting might have something to do with it).  Later on, a funny looking man comes to Father’s table, asking if Walter is for sale and Father is happy to sell Walter to the strange man.  It turns out that Walter’s new owner is a man who is into the clown business and the man uses Walter’s farts to blow up balloons to take with him to parties.  However, it turns out that this clown actually has evil plans for Walter’s farts and Walter might get involved in a crime that he unknowingly got into!

Wow! I never would have thought that I would read another “Walter the Farting Dog” book after all of these years!  So, when I found out that William Kotzwinkle and Glenn Murray were creating more books for the “Walter the Farting Dog” series, I just had to check these books out and I finally checked out the second book in this series at last!  I loved the way that William Kotzwinkle and Glenn Murray had made this book just as humorous as the first book as you never would expect to see a children’s book focus on farting as this series does!  I also loved the unique situation that Walter gets stuck in as he is forced to fart into balloons for a clown who actually has evil plans for Walter’s farts and it was interesting seeing how this clown would use Walter’s farts against people!  Audrey Colman’s artwork is always a treat to see as the characters are drawn in an exaggerated manner and I also loved the way that Audrey Colman uses photo realistic characters to clash with the cartoony backgrounds as it gives the book a creative feel!

Parents should know that this book involves the main character farting throughout the story and anyone who does not like crude humor might find Walter’s constant farting a bit gross to handle.  Also, the reason why I took off half a point from the rating was because I did not like the fact that Father was not called out on his actions for selling Walter in the first place and I just wanted to see Father feel some kind of remorse or redeem himself for his actions in this book.

Overall, “Walter the Farting Dog: Trouble at the Yard Sale” is a great book for anyone who loves good humor and loves the “Walter the Farting Dog” series!  I would recommend this book to children ages six and up since the crude humor might be a bit off-putting for some children.