Fine art meets the contemporary super hero in Thacher Hurd's waggish picture story set in a oddly parallel universe where dogs rule. By day Arthur Dog is a guard at the Dogopolis Museum of Art where he watches over masterpieces by well-known artists such as Vincent Van Dog, Pablo Poodle, Leonardo Dog Vinci and Henri Muttisse. But at night Arthur dons a mask and beret to become the mysterious Art Dog, who secretly paints his own masterpieces on the sides of drab city walls under the cover of darkness. After thieves break into the Dogopolis Museum of Art and steal the famed Mona Woofa, the police nab Art Dog as the first suspicious-looking dog they see. Our hero paints himself out of one bad situation after another and catches the real thieves, of course, according to the super-hero formula. As one would expect, he quietly resumes his double life: low-key museum guard by day, unknown avant-garde artist by night. What makes this story extraordinary is Hurd's clever visual and verbal puns that transform Western art into canine cartoon-style superheroes. Children older than the usual picture-book age will get a kick out of Hurd's surrealistic humor, while younger children will enjoy the story as a fast-moving, brightly colored, humorous fantasy. (Ages 4-9)

Faster than a speeding bullet, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, more powerful than a locomotive -- well, that's Superman for you. But now there's Art Dog -- a new superhero on the block -- and he's fighting crime with a paintbrush and an unstoppable creative might.

Just as Superman and Batman lead quiet lives during the day as Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne, Art Dog spends his days as Arthur Dog, a mild-mannered guard at the Dogopolis Museum of Art. But under the light of a full moon, he undergoes a transformation into a creative force to be reckoned with. Through a little creativity and an astounding nose for art he manages to sniff out and apprehend a band of thieves who have stolen the priceless Mona Woofa.

Highlighted with characteristically bright and bold illustrations, Thacher Hurd has created an action-packed story that offers a whimsical view of many artistic masterpieces. Littering the pages of Art Dog are canine interpretations of paintings such as Wood's American Gothic, Matisse's Dance of Life and Jazz, Vermeer's Girl with Turban, Seurat's A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, da Vinci's Mona Lisa and others. Children will recognize some of the paintings and will delight in the dogs replacing their human counterparts.

Oh, no! Someone has stolen the Mona Woofa from the Dogopolis Museum of Art and the police don't even realize that they are barking up the wrong tree when they collar their number one suspect. So it's up to Art Dog, the mysterious, masked painter who roams the streets of Dogopolis, to find the missing masterpiece. Zip! Splash! Smoosh! He paints himself a Brushmobile, and he's off––on a wild and funny chase to capture the dastardly crooks. With the same deft touches of high-spirited fun and adventure that have made Mystery on the Docks and Mama Don't Allow (both Reading Rainbow Featured Selections) such perennially popular stories, Thacher Hurd serves up a new action-packed tale that will delight young readers.

1996 ‘Pick of the Lists' (ABA)
Children's Choices for 1997 (IRA/CBC)
1998 Red Clover Book Award (VT)

Oh, no! Someone has stolen the Mona Woofa from the Dogopolis Museum of Art and the police don't even realize that they are barking up the wrong tree when they collar their number one suspect. So it's up to Art Dog, the mysterious, masked painter who roams the streets of Dogopolis, to find the missing masterpiece. Zip! Splash! Smoosh! He paints himself a Brushmobile, and he's off––on a wild and funny chase to capture the dastardly crooks. With the same deft touches of high-spirited fun and adventure that have made Mystery on the Docks and Mama Don't Allow (both Reading Rainbow Featured Selections) such perennially popular stories, Thacher Hurd serves up a new action-packed tale that will delight young readers.

1996 ‘Pick of the Lists' (ABA)
Children's Choices for 1997 (IRA/CBC)
1998 Red Clover Book Award (VT)