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by Colas Gutman (Author), Marc Boutavant (Illustrator), Allison M. Charette (Translator)
It's Christmas Eve in the city, and Dumpster Dog--scruffy, stubborn, and big-hearted--has a plan. With a wag of his tail and a nose for adventure, he's determined to find the perfect present for the friends who've made the alleys and avenues feel like home.
But when good intentions collide with glittering shop windows, spilled cocoa, and an avalanche of tinsel, even the most enthusiastic pup can get into a festive tangle.
From twinkling streetlights to snow-soft sidewalks, Dumpster Dog sniffs out possibilities everywhere: a shiny bell, a cozy mitten, a cookie that's almost too good to share. Each discovery leads to a laugh-out-loud mishap--and a gentle lesson about what really matters when the nights are long and the air is cold.
He may not have much, but he has a nose for kindness and a knack for turning "found" into "special."
With warm humor and bustling urban charm, Merry Christmas, Dumpster Dog! celebrates small acts of generosity, the joy of chosen community, and the magic that happens when friends look out for one another. Energetic, full-color art captures every wag, whoosh, and woof as our scrappy hero learns that the best gift isn't something wrapped--it's the love he carries wherever he goes.
This cheering picture book will have young readers giggling, guessing what comes next, and rooting for a pup whose heart is bigger than any stocking. By the last page, kids will be ready to share their own "found-treasures" and spread a little Dumpster Dog goodwill all season long.
Author Biography
Born in Paris in 1972, Colas Gutman is an actor and author. He writes his novels in exactly the same position he took as a young boy doing his homework: stretched out on his bed or perhaps sitting in a chair, using a comic as his desk pad. His first work Rex, ma Tortue (Rex, My Turtle) appeared in 2006 and won the Mille Page Award. Gutman explores childhood and adolescence in his work with all of the lightness, angst, surrealism, and weirdness of those periods. In 2013, he invented the hilarious and endearing character of Dumpster Dog (Chien Pourri). The series has been a smashing success in France since the moment of its inception, and has spawned an animated series and a lot of fabulous Dumpster Dog notecards and dishrags, of course.
Born in Dijon, France in 1970, Marc Boutavant is an award-winning author and illustrator. For years, Boutavant has drawn for picture books and comics, and he's done his fair share of editorial illustration as well. His cartoons and picture books have made him a widely sought after illustrator. Boutavant's lively, expressive, and inventive illustrations appeal to both children and their parents, for they are simple and complex, witty, playful, and probing all at the same time. His characters for the Dumpster Dog series have won the hearts of all French children and are in the process of generating love all over the world. Boutavant lives and works in Paris, France.
