My Favorite Reads #10: TRICK OR TREAT, SMELL MY FEET by Diane de Groat

Alyce of At Home with Books hosts My Favorite Reads, a weekly feature spotlighting favorite reads from pre-blogging days. Because it's been a while since the books were read, these posts are not reviews per se, but rather impressionistic remembrances of a positive reading experience. I think of this feature as an opportunity to more deeply explore the range of my reading interests and those of other book bloggers and readers of book blogs outside of the current crop of new releases.

Do you have an old favorite that you'd like to share?

TRICK OR TREAT, SMELL MY FEET

written and illustrated by Diane de Groat

Pub. Date: August 1999

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Format: Paperback, 32pp

Age Range: 5 to 7

ISBN-13: 9780688170615

Synopsis (from the publisher):
Gilbert wants to be a Martian Space Pilot at the school costume parade, but a mix-up leaves him with nothing but his little sister's ballerina tutu to wear! In this hilarious follow-up to the best-selling Roses are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink, everyone's favorite porcupine learns all about the ups and downs of being different. Here is a madcap masquerade that will leave school-age children in stitches.

Why I Chose This Book:
This is one of my favorite books from the kids' stash. Maybe I'm even the one who bought it for them. We've had our copy for at least 2 years, and it's a favorite that we turn to again and again, whatever the time of year. Never mind that until I looked up the book on the publisher's website, I had thought Gilbert and his family were opossums. (Turns out they're porcupines!) I also had no idea that author/illustrator Diane de Groat had created a whole series of books around these sweet little characters -- or that she had illustrated over 120 other books! Needless to say, I'll be tracking them down and bringing some home. In the meantime, TRICK OR TREAT, SMELL MY FEET is a wonderfully timeless story and obviously perfect for this week.

Click here to visit the author's website.

About the author (from the publisher):Diane deGroat is the illustrator of more than 120 children's books and the author-illustrator of other bestselling books about Gilbert, including Mother, You're the Best! (But Sister, You're a Pest!) ; Last One in Is a Rotten Egg!; Trick or Treat, Smell my Feet; Jingle Bells, Homework Smells; Happy Birthday to You, You Belong in a Zoo; No More Pencils, No More Books, No More Teacher's Dirty Looks!; Brand-new Pencils, Brand-new Books; and the New York Times bestseller Roses Are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink. She lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.