The Great, Smelly, Slobbery, Small-Tooth Dog

In addition to the charming story with its "Beauty and the Beast" motif and delightful illustrations, Paschkis has included various flowers on each page. The end-papers explain the traditional meaning of the flowers, adding to the reader's deeper understanding and enjoyment of the book.

Library Media Connection, January 2008

MacDonald has honed the story until each line is sharp and falls easily on listening ears. Paschkis's gouache folk-art paintings in blue, crimson, and gold tones are reminiscent of medieval tapestries. ...This book is a joyous gift to storytellers and youngsters alike.

School Library Journal Dec 1, 2007

The text is perfectly paced for interactive read-alouds (children will shout out the slobbery refrain), but the active, richly colored gouache paintings, which include beautiful details, such as symbolic flowers that correspond to an endpaper key, will work best with small groups. A lovely complement to familiar beauty-and-the-beast tellings.

Booklist, Nov. 1, 2007

MacDonald’s prose is precise and engaging, but it is Paschkis’s gouache illustrations, in vivid color and sharp detail, that turn this into something magical. The illustrations are set in interestingly shaped panels bordered with golden rope, and the remaining white space is dotted with details featuring various types of flowers. The endpapers depict each of the flowers along with their meanings, encouraging readers to return to the illustrations and the story in search of symbolic connections

Kirkus, Oct 1, 2007