Winner of the 2007 Cheerios Spoonful of Stories Children's Book Contest, Braeuner strikes an upbeat chord for her debut, which is altogether fitting for a book that is being included in boxes of breakfast cereal. In the spirit of P. D. Eastman's Go, Dog, Go! (1961), the story celebrates what turns into a major party: the Great Dog Wash jamboree! Braeuner starts her cheerful rhyming in an orderly fashion to match the optimistic plan ( Big dogs and small dogs, / come one and all dogs. / We're having a dog wash today! ). When a cat appears and a dog stampede ensues, the rhymes get shaggier until some order is restored. Neubecker's digital illustrations don't contain a great deal of character or detail but they are vivid and lively enough to match the energy of the text. The children come in all sizes and colors, cooperating nicely for this big project, and the dogs are varied as well, if not quite as well behaved.--Nolan, Abby Copyright 2009 Booklist

Short, rhyming text, bold but simple illustrations and a pack of cheerful canines add up to a winning dog tale that is simple enough for younger preschoolers who are just starting to enjoy their first stories with a complete plot. An enterprising group of children organizes the doggie-bathing project using a washtub and hose, a method that works well until a cat strolls into the scene, causing a ruckus, as the soapy pooches follow the cat to a nearby tree. The clever kids adjust to the circumstances, moving their washing operation to a new site under the tree, where they shampoo and rinse the dogs as a pack. Neubecker uses a jazzy palette of olive green, strawberry and banana yellow for his cartoon-style illustrations, with thick, black outlines and lots of water drips and shampoo bubbles flying across the pages. The dogs are an amiable bunch, thoroughly enjoying their new hairdos, bows and bandanas, and the multiethnic group of children is a confidence-inspiring creative group whose know-how and adaptability give them something both fun and worthwhile to do on a warm summer day. (Picture book. 2-6) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Debut author Braeuner is doubly fortunate: she won the Cheerios New Author Contest and got Neubecker (I Got Two Dogs) as her first collaborator. The end result, however, is mixed. Readers will appreciate how their fictional peers run the dog-washing enterprise with no help from grownups-although there are comic mishaps, these kids clearly have their act together. But Braeuner's predictable wordplay and rhymes don't do much to convey the giddy fun of an enterprise that involves hoses, soap and shaggy, rambunctious pets: "Slippery, slobbery,/ do a good jobbery./ Wash all that dog smell away." Neubecker tackles the material with the confidence of a pro. While he's always been good at conveying the bustle and telling details of a crowd, he's even better here when he fills a spread with a limited number of large-scale figures engaged in a focused action: two kids and four sundry dogs in full gallop, a trio of kids hosing down a towering but eager pooch. Ages 2-6. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved