From Publishers Weekly
The first title, published in New Zealand in 1983 and making its U.S. debut, introduces the diminutive black dog and a host of canine pals in a cumulative text. They take the town until a giant tomcat sends them all homeward. In the second book (published in 1984), the same motley crew follows the hero in hopes of taking his bone but, one by one, Hairy outmaneuvers them. Ages 2-5. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 1-- Hairy Maclary, a small black dog, has his tail nipped by a caged cockatoo and, leaping up, precipitates a lighthearted pet riot in the veterinarian's waiting room. Lively watercolor and ink illustrations are carefully coordinated with a brief, rhymed text. Realistic yet simplified paintings completely fill each left-hand page and face a right-hand page devoted exclusively to text. The animated feeling of these paintings is derived more from expressive animal faces than from a sense of motion. The animals are well observed and neatly individualized. The use of language is delightful, being musical, playful, and colorful. The print is large and appropriate for beginning readers, but the vocabulary may prove intimidating to those same readers. This reads aloud well; however, previous books about Hairy Maclary are stronger as this story is a bit muddled. The vet enters to restore peace to her waiting room, but it is never clear that she succeeds before the punchline, which indicates that the rumpus is about to start anew. --Cynthia Bishop, Onondaga County Public Library, Syracuse, NYCopyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Book Description
Rumpus at the Vet chronicles Hairy’s escapades with "miserable dogs and cantankerous cats, a rabbit with pimples and rickety rats."


Card catalog description
A cockatoo's attack on Hairy's tail starts a chain reaction among the animals at the vet's.


About the Author
New Zealander Lynley Dodd is one of the best-known and best-selling picturebook creators in the English-speaking world.

ANNOTATION

A cockatoo's attack on Hairy's tail starts a chain reaction among the animals at the vet's.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

New Zealander Lynley Dodd is one of the best-known and best-selling picturebook creators in the English-speaking world.

SYNOPSIS

Rumpus at the Vet chronicles Hairy's escapades with "miserable dogs and cantankerous cats, a rabbit with pimples and rickety rats."

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Here's a rumpus, indeed: this beleaguered vet's office may never fully recover from the chaos that ensues when Cassie the cockatoo plucks a hair from the hide of Hairy Maclary (``from Donaldson's Dairy''). This mischievous deed sets in motion a rambunctious, rhyming riot, as various ailing pets all decide to forgo their restraints and cavort in grand fashion. And just as some semblance of order is about to be restored, the culprit seems ready to strike again. This extended poem forms the basis for that relatively rare commodity, a book that tickles the funnybones of parents and children alike. With its amusing alliteration, fanciful names (Noodle the poodle; Barnacle Beasley, the sore and sorely vexed beagle; ``The Poppadum kittens from Parkinson Place'') and rapid-fire delivery, Dodd's nonsense verse follows quite nicely in the grand tradition of Messrs. Nash and Lear. The pictures are amiably animated and suitably silly, but watch those wonderful waggish words. Ages 5-7. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"When Cassie the cockatoo plucks a hair from the hide of Hairy Maclary, the deed sets in motion a rambunctious, rhyming riot," said PW of the first title. "With amusing alliteration, fanciful names and rapid-fire delivery, this book will tickle the funnybones of parents and children alike." Ages 2-5. (Mar.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Children's Literature - Rebecca Watson

"Down at the Vet's there were all kinds of pets, with troubles and woes from their ears to their toes." So begins this story of the animals waiting to be seen in a crowded vet's office, each sitting quietly with its owner until Cassie the cockatoo reaches her beak through the bars of her cage and gives Hairy Maclary's tail a tweak. Hairy Maclary, a scruffy little dog with his leg in a cast, jumps high in the air and sets off a chain reaction of animal chaos. A bowl of mice is upset, birds fly out of their cages, cats and dogs scramble about and even the vet falls onto the floor. All of this upsets Cassie the cockatoo, and just when it looks like things may be settling down, she gives Hairy Maclary's tail another tweak. Although children may find this rumpus laugh-out-loud funny, parents may be more sympathetic with the black-haired cat glaring from the back cover if asked to read this thinly- plotted, sing-song book more than once or twice. 2003 (orig. 1989), Ten Speed Press/Tricycle Press,

School Library Journal