Pup Art #9

Bonjour! Sparky heads to Paris, where his new French bulldog friend helps him find food as delicious as it is hard for Sparky to pronounce. In return, Sparky decides to help him find a human friend of his own. But then the two pups crash into an artist's paint cans and get colorful paw prints all over his canvasses! How will Sparky get out of this mess?Publishers Weekly called the first Magic Bone book a "high-energy first tale" that "adds a light travelogue element to the story."

Booklist called the first Magic Bone book "a good choice for newly independent readers who have a taste for fantasy."Nancy Krulik has written more than 100 books for children and young adults, including two New York Times bestsellers. Her very first story (in first grade) was about how she wanted to be Mary Poppins so she could dance in the park with Bert and the penguins.

Sebastien Braun (www.sebastienbraun.com) studied fine and applied arts at Strasbourg University in France. Since his move to London in 2000, he has been illustrating children’s books.

CHAPTER 1

“No! No! No!”

I bark as loud as I can. But my two-leg, Josh, is still pouring water all over me. And he won’t stop. That’s because Josh doesn’t speak dog. And I don’t speak two-leg.

So I’m stuck standing in this big dog bed. It’s not a soft, fuzzy, comfy dog bed like the one I sleep in. This dog bed is hard and cold. And now it’s wet.

I don’t like hard, cold, and wet.

“No! No! No!” I bark again.

But Josh keeps pouring. Splash, splash, splash.

Shakity, shake, shake! Water flies everywhere!

Josh jumps out of the way. I guess he doesn’t like being wet, either.

Boing! Boing! My paws are bouncing up and down. They want to jump out of this hard, cold dog bed. Here I go . . .

Oomf! “No! No! No!”

Josh is holding me down. And he’s pouring more water on me.

Splash! Splash!

I’m all wet.

Now Josh is pouring something into his paws.

I stick my nose into his paws and take a sniff.

Sniffety, sniff, sniff.

The stuff in Josh’s paws smells sweet. Like a treat.

Lickety, lick, yuck!

That doesn’t taste like a sweet treat. It tastes awful.

Josh starts rubbing the sweet-smelling, yucky-tasting stuff all over my fur. No! I don’t want to smell like a sweet treat. I want to smell like a dog.

“Stop, Josh! Stop!” I bark.

I have to get out of here.

Wiggle, waggle, whee! My paws leap out of the cold, hard dog bed.

Josh tries to force me back in. But I push past him. I run through the house. Josh follows close behind.