The Daily Sniff

PreS-K–Ted the dog loves his “daily sniff”—a walk in which he sniffs all the latest news in town. One day, Ted can’t go outside (he is pictured wearing a cone). He is sad to be pent up, but when he’s finally able to return to his daily sniff, all he can smell is something stinky. After looking for the source of the smell, he finally finds it in a lost skunk. Ted helps the skunk locate his siblings, and the skunks are able to return home, leaving Ted to sniff the news once again. The illustrations are colorful and engaging, though more muted than Cabrera’s previous works. Children reading one-on-one will enjoy poring over a spread to find the hidden skunks. Some details don’t entirely make sense, such as when the mother tries to cheer up the dog by putting the cone on her own head and playing a game as Ted jumps around playfully (isn’t he injured?). Elsewhere, Cabrera notes that the daily sniff brings both “local news” and “news from far away,” with a picture of a poodle in front of the Eiffel Tower. Is the implication that a dog can sniff all the way to Paris?