(Preschool, Primary) When the farm animals' collective noses are assaulted by an ""awful smell"" in the barn, they assume it must be coming from the little piglet Dog discovers within. They try bathing the piglet, covering it in flowers from the meadow, squishing sweet berries on it--but nothing helps: the barn still stinks. Finally, Cat arrives and digs out the lunch she hid in the barn a few days before: a liver, onion, and tuna fish sandwich. This flourish will score high on kids' gross-out meters, and the final touch--the piglet happily eats the sandwich--should completely do them in. The messages about jumping to conclusions and prejudging others may not be subtle, but they're played out so humorously that they're easy to swallow. The illustrations, in shiny pastels, emphasize the animals' noses to comic effect--one double-page spread practically has the viewer sitting inside the cows' nostrils. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

Another four-legged creature is suspected of an olfactory offense in What's That Awful Smell? by Heather Tekavec, illus. by Margaret Spengler. The familiar barnyard gang from Storm Is Coming finds a likely culprit lurking in the barn-a sanguine piglet. They try everything from covering it with hay to smearing it with strawberries to eliminate its odor, "but the smell didn't go away." When the animals resign themselves to abandoning their barn, only Cat can solve this mystery. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

PreS-Gr 2-Holding their noses, several farm animals search the barn for the source of an offending odor. When Dog finds a piglet in a back stall, the friends try to freshen it up. Despite their best efforts-covering the porker with hay, giving it a puddle bath, sticking flowers in its ears, and rubbing it with strawberries-the smell just doesn't go away. Unable to stand the aroma, the animals reluctantly stay outside. When Cat arrives on the scene and hears about the pig, she says, "I hope it didn't eat my dinner." With great comedic timing, Cat reveals that she hid a "fat, squishy" liver, onion, and tuna fish sandwich in the back stall several days ago. The piglet gets the last laugh as it happily gets rid of both the sandwich and the smell in one big gulp. The fluid pastel artwork is filled with bright colors and gentle humor. Spengler's cartoon animals have rounded, oversized features and are hilariously expressive. Children will have great fun mimicking the creatures' reactions. A perfect storytime crowd-pleaser, this book has the sweet smell of success.-Linda Ludke, London Public Library, Ontario, Canada (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.