For generations on Island Nation, the Puddin’ Heads have despised the Sweeties and lived without dogs. But after a shipload of dogs and puppies arrives, the Puddin’ Heads race to buy these creatures despite having no clue how to care for them. When the Union family can’t take their new puppy, Waggers, on a trip, Maya, her best friend Lily, and Waggers stay with Uncle Puddin’ Head. But Lily is a Sweetie, Maya refuses to scoop poop, and her uncle really, really cares about his new lawn. When Maya attempts to lead creative solutions in the strange neighbors’ yards, problems start piling up. For ages 8 and up.
For generations on Island Nation, the Puddin’ Heads have despised the Sweeties and lived without dogs. But after a shipload of dogs and puppies arrives, the Puddin’ Heads race to buy these creatures despite having no clue how to care for them. When the Union family can’t take their new puppy, Waggers, on a trip, Maya, her best friend Lily, and Waggers stay with Uncle Puddin’ Head. But Lily is a Sweetie, Maya refuses to scoop poop, and her uncle really, really cares about his new lawn. When Maya attempts to lead creative solutions in the strange neighbors’ yards, problems start piling up. For ages 8 and up.
It’s strange how fast everything changed across my country, which, in case you don’t know, is Island Nation. Well, most of the changes happened on Puddin’ Head Island, the large island where I live. Maybe your country has had dogs for a long time, but my country had lived for generations without them. We’d never even seen a dog in a zoo, let alone owned one as a pet. Mom told me someone ordered a shipload of puppies and dogs from some place called the United States. Suddenly everyone wanted a puppy or dog. At least most Puddin’ Heads did. And guess what? My family got the best puppy, Waggers. And like the rest of the Puddin’ Heads, we thought taking care of a puppy would be easy. After we brought Waggers home, that silly idea lasted about one hour.
Most Sweeties, on the other hand, who live, of course, on Sweetie Island, don’t want anything to do with dogs because dogs are for Puddin’ Heads. A lot of Puddin’ Heads and Sweeties still don’t like each other, which is also silly. After all, my new best friend, Lily, is a Sweetie, and as you’ll soon learn, she really wants a puppy.
My teenage sister, Blaze, tried to explain the history of the Puddin’ Heads versus the Sweeties to me a while ago, shortly after she became a football and rock star. And just for the record, I am way more creative than Blaze, even if no one notices. Blaze said something like, “A very long time ago, many different types of people from around the world arrived on Island Nation.” Blah, blah, blah. “Then some numbskull tricked the people on Puddin’ Head Island into hating the people on Sweetie Island and vice versa.” Then more blah, blah, blah and a bunch of other confusing words. But here’s a part she said that I did understand: “Because there were so many different types of people, when the Puddin’ Heads and the Sweeties mixed, they didn’t know who was who. So this numbskull tricked many Puddin’ Heads into wearing red and many Sweeties into wearing blue so they could recognize their enemy.”
Fortunately, partly due to my sister’s accomplishments—blah, blah, blah, yawn, yawn, so-glad-I’m-almost-done-talking-about-my-sister—it’s no longer cool for Puddin’ Heads and Sweeties to hate each other. Yep, after I met Lily and learned about this ridiculous history, I started wearing lots of colors. However, Blaze explained that there are pockets of people on Puddin’ Head Island who still despise the Sweeties. Secretly, they call themselves true red Puddin’ Heads. I bet you can guess what they think about kids who wear lots of colors.
At the beginning of this story, I didn’t know my uncle was a true red Puddin’ Head. I didn’t know that he really, really loved his new lawn. And I didn’t know that’s where me, Waggers, and someone else would be staying for almost a whole week.
The Sweeties and the Puddin' Heads have been rivals for a very long time, all because some "numbskull" tricked them into despising one another. The same troublemaker even tricked the Sweeties into wearing blue and Puddin' Heads red. If you considered yourself "true red Puddin' Heads," you didn't just wear all red; you also only drove red vehicles like Maya's Uncle Kal. As in present-day society, there will always be individuals who stand up against outdated rules. In this fictional children's book, the "rebel" would be Maya.
Maya lived on Puddin' Island, where she was expected to wear red and blue was 100% forbidden. Maya didn't let anyone tell her what to wear. If she wanted to wear a rainbow-colored outfit, she would and made no apologies for it. She also didn't judge others by where they lived. In fact, Maya's best friend, Lily, was from Sweetie Island.
As the chapter book plays out, Maya and Lily learn the hard way puppies are cute, but boy, do they poop a lot! I laughed out loud when Lily appeared genuinely floored that not only do dogs poop, but many other creatures do as well. Or when Lily questioned if Waggers would turn into something else, like a caterpillar. In her defense, Lily has never seen a dog before. Maya, either, until a shipload of them came to the island.
I found elements of this story were comical because they were not happening to me. For instance, when Uncle Kal stepped on a poop patch and left a trail of brown footprints that ran up the sidewalk, across the porch, and into the house. Disgusting! I'm also thankful Maya was the one scooping the largest pile of dog poop known to mankind because the experience sounded gross.
Maya and Waggers: I Have to Scoop What? uses humor to show the stinkier side of owning a dog. They are fun to play with and give pets to, but eventually, they will empty their colon somewhere. Maya and Lily had a great idea to avoid the clean-up process and to appease Maya's Uncle Kal: have Waggers leave his piles on someone else's lawn. Mayhem and hilarity ensue as the two girls visit each potential poop location. My favorite neighboring family was the Barkers. They were crazy!
Kids eight years and up will be giggling as they read about Maya's poop dilemma. Many will relate if they have a canine companion at home and are required to pick up dog turds. If you're like me, you'll wish the author included more images, such as snow literally punching and kicking grass and a picture of MegaCorps's newest invention: grass that fights back!
Need a good laugh? Read this story!