[BOOK REVIEW] D.W. All Wet by Marc Brown

Title:  D.W. All Wet

Author:  Marc Brown

Genre:  Animals / Beach / Siblings / Family / Vacation

Year Published: 1988

Year Read:  2017

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Series: D.W. #2

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 4+  (Some Rude Behavior)

Buy or Add on:  Amazon  //  Goodreads

After I read “D.W. the Picky Eater,” I got even more interested in Marc Brown’s “D.W.” series since I am a huge fan of his “Arthur” series and I wanted to get into the “D.W.” series as well!  So, when I finally got around to reading “D.W. All Wet,” I was pleasantly surprised by the simplistic yet hilarious storytelling of this book!

The story starts off with Arthur’s family going off to the beach for a nice vacation, but D.W. was complaining about not wanting to go to the beach because she did not want to get wet.  Even though her family enjoyed swimming in the ocean, D.W. still refused to go out into the ocean for a swim.  A few moments later, Arthur was planning on going for a walk and D.W. wanted to go with Arthur, so she climbed on Arthur’s back and they started walking along the beach with D.W. giving Arthur directions on where to go on the beach.  Suddenly, Arthur starts losing control of where they were walking and…

Where is Arthur taking D.W. and will D.W. ever get in the water?

Read this book to find out!

You know what, I have always loved Marc Brown’s cute and witty writing on his “Arthur” series and this book is still as witty and fun to read as Marc Brown’s other “Arthur” books!  I loved the way that Marc Brown wrote D.W.’s predicament in not wanting to go into the water because she did not want to get wet and it was hilarious seeing D.W. refusing to go into the water even though her family are enjoying themselves.  I also found myself relating to D.W.’s predicament in not wanting to go into the water because I remembered when I was little and I was trying to swim for the first time, I did not want to go into the water because I was afraid of drowning, but I eventually got the courage to go into the water after I saw how much fun everyone else was having in the water and this book is extremely relatable to any child who has trouble trying to get into the water at the beach for the first time.  I also like the way that Marc Brown portrayed Arthur and D.W.’s relationship in this book as they are not as antagonistic to each other as they usually are in the other “Arthur” books and it was great seeing Arthur trying to help his sister D.W. get into the water and show her how fun swimming can be.  Marc Brown’s artwork is much more subdued in this book than in his other books as the outlines of the characters are much lighter in tone instead of the usual bold black lines and the color tones are much more earthly, giving this story a more traditional and down to earth tone.

Overall, “D.W. All Wet” is a truly fantastic and fun book to read for children who love reading books about beaches and having the same experiences as D.W. did.  I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book, unless D.W.’s bratty behavior might be a problem for some children.