Author(s): Philip C. Stead; Matthew Cordell (Illustrator)

Picture Books

Louis and his eccentric Grandma set out to count every dog in the neighborhood when they find out about city hall's woefully inadequate record keeping.

Louis wants a dog, but his Grandma insists, "There are enough dogs in the neighborhood already." But how many dogs are in the neighborhood? Surely a sternly worded letter to City Hall will clear this up. When it turns out that City Hall doesn't keep an official count of this essential demographic, Louis and his Grandma do their civic duty and take matters into their own hands. Together they meet all sorts of dogs with hilarious names and personalities. When they're done, Louis's grandmother is sure he's missed one particularly lovable dog, a mutt named Baklava in need of a new home.

Philip Stead and Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell have once again shown their knack for making quirky and endearing stories about grandparent and grandchild duos in the tradition of Follow That Frog and Special Delivery.

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection