This heartwarming book tells the story of a picnicking family charmed by a stray dog. When their picnic ends, the family says good-bye to the dog and goes home. But they cannot forget him. A week later, they return for the dogonly to find that the dogcatcher is looking for him, too!Gracefully written and beautifully illustrated, this moving tale of a stray dog who finds a new home is based on a true story. Like the family in the book, children are bound to fall in love with the irresistible stray. Funny, poignant, and satisfying, The Stray Dog is being published on the 50th anniversary of the first children’s book written and illustrated by Caldecott Medalist Marc Simont. About the Author:Marc Simont received a Caldecott Honor in 1950 for Ruth Krauss’s The Happy Day and won the Caldecott Medal in 1957 for A Tree is Nice by Janice May Udry. In addition to illustrating books by James Thruber and Marjorie Weinman Sharmat’s easy-to-read mysteries about Nate the Great, he has illustrated Karla Kuskin’s The Philharmonic Gets Dressed and Bette Bao Lord’s In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson. Mr. Simont lives in West Cornwall, CT.Bulletin of the Center for Children’s BooksSimont’s art possesses its usual deceptive ease and friendly watercolor fluidity. . . . will have pooch-loving kids investigating every park with hope and determination.