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'Farting Dog' teaches tolerance: author

Humour and the "f-word" -- fart-- may initially attract children to the Walter the Farting Dog books, but the co-author of the best-selling series believes there's more to it.

"Kids love scatological detail and bodily functions," Murray admitted. "But Walter has an extra charm, I think, and a message of acceptance and tolerance and making the best of a bad situation."

Murray, a Fredericton-based writer and educational technology supervisor, co-authored Walter the Farting Dog and its follow-up Walter the Farting Dog: Trouble at the Yard Sale with his friend William Kotzwinkle, a writer based in Maine.

The books tell the story of the titular pooch and the troubles he gets into because of his uncontrollable and unpleasant bodily function. In the end, however, Walter always saves the day.

Released in 2001, the first Walter book has sold approximately 500,000 copies in North America and, already translated into French and Spanish, will soon appear in Latin, Vietnamese, Korean and Hebrew. Trouble at the Yard Sale, which hit bookshelves this month, is set for similar success: printed in a dozen languages, the book raced up the New York Times Children's Bestsellers list.

Trouble at the Yard Sale has now bumped the original, first-ranked Walter down to second place.

Murray, who spends a lot of time doing public readings in elementary schools, says that the series' success helps get young people excited about reading.

"To me the most important thing that can happen in early education is for a kid to have the experience of picking up a book they choose, reading it from one end to another, and closing the cover and thinking 'That was fun. That was a good thing to do,'" Murray said.

"You know then they're going to go on to read other books."

The Walter stories may not be great literature, but they are attracting children to books, says Susan Perren, children's book columnist at the Globe and Mail.

"As long as it's a diet that's well-balanced with other, shall we say, more nutritious stuff, I think it's just great," Perren said.

The Walter phenomenon will continue with a third book, entitled Walter the Farting Dog: Rough Weather Ahead, set for release later this year. A Walter plush toy -- complete with authentic-sounding "intestinal emanation" sound effects -- and a live-action movie are also in the works.

Posted by thinkum at April 26, 2004 01:54 PM