This book is about a little girl and her dog who sneak outside and play in the snow allay while her parents are gone.

Carl's Snowy Afternoon is the second picture book about Carl the lovable Rottweiler that I have had the pleasure to read. Maybe not quite as cute and sweet as Carl's Summer Vacation it is in many ways more humorous and had me laughing and chuckling continuously. The basic story line is that Carl and Madeleine are supposed to be at home under the care of a babysitter, while Madeleine's parents go to a pond party, but the inseparable pair decide that they would rather play in the snow. It is funny and maybe also a tad frustrating that both the babysitter and Madeleine's parents are really rather clueless. The babysitter is so enthralled with her television program that Carl and Madeleine can easily slip by her and out of the house for some winter fun, and the parents also don't even seem to realise that their daughter and their Rottweiler have somehow shown up at their own pond party. I think that my favourite two scenes are when Carl nabs the hotdogs from a hotdog vendor as a snack, and right at the end, when Carl and Madeleine retrieve the carrot nose from the snowman and give it to the bunny rabbit (one reviewer thought that the hotdog nabbing scene was a terrible thing to show, with a bad message, but come on, dogs do like to nab food, and Rottweilers, at least all of the Rottweilers I have known, are champion and ingenious food nabbers, and we honestly do not need heavy messages and morals with every children's book).

There is a bit more dialogue in this book, but still, it is the wonderful illustrations that basically tell the story. And what illustrations!! Alexandra Day has really captured the essence of Rottweiler cuteness, from their bouncing strides to their floppy, fly-away ears when they are running (our Rottweilers used to look exactly like that, and we used to call their ears Fliegerohren, flyer or pilot ears in English). I would recommend this book to anyone who likes dogs and winter scenes; the combination is simply magical and made me wish that I was Madeleine's age again and could enjoy winter fun with a lovable and playful canine companion. ( )

In a world of oblivious, inept adults, Madeline is lucky she has Carl. These books are funny, and full of visual subtlety that young children will enjoy. They are in on the joke. Carl is a good friend and a good pet.

If you like Carl books, you'll like this one. (Personally, I wasn't super-impressed with the story.)