The Hallo-Wiener

By Brianna

The Hallo-Wiener​, by Dav Pilkey

In our home, we love seasonal and holiday books.  Anything to celebrate the current season, and share some giggles over, is always welcome.  Halloween can be a little tricky to find good books for.  Some books focus way too much on candy, while others focus on being naughty.  I once had to read a Halloween book with the most annoyingly anti-climactic ending ever to not one, but three, classrooms of preschoolers.  We nearly started a little, baby riot.  This book, however, will not disappoint.

The Hallo-Wiener is a charming, ridiculous book for Halloween.  It was originally published in 1995, but is widely available now, because of the popularity of its author (and illustrator), the great Dav Pilkey, of Captain Underpants fame.  We used this for a special Halloween storytime  at one of my libraries (actually, Ariel did this one with me), and I was so excited to find it in board book form at my local supermarket.  The Hallo-Wiener stars Oscar Myers, a puppy (“half-a-dog tall and one-and-a-half dogs long”) who is looking forward to trick-or-treating with his classmates, until he sees the embarrassing costume his mom made for him.  But, being a good dog, Oscar wears the costume, endures the teasing from his peers, and ultimately saves the day and regains his dignity.  The illustrations are rich, spooky, and silly, all at once.  Be sure to look for the little details Pilkey has loaded into each picture; they make the story even funnier.  This is a fun, lighthearted read, especially great for fall or Halloween.  Monkey loves nearly every story with dogs in it, so we’re big fans.

I think Hallo-Wiener is a solid four-egg book.  The adults in our home love how clever it is, but Monkey just wants to point at the dogs.  She'll sit and listen to most of it, but it isn't a book that she's asking me to read, so I know it isn't one of her favorites.  

If you want to buy The Hallo-Wiener, click the cover below.  This is an affiliate link, so Busy Nest News will get a little something from your purchase, which will help keep us running.  Thanks!

​Pilkey, D. (2014). The hallo-wiener. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc.