title: Shaggy Dog and the Terrible Itch
author:  David Bedford 
description: reS-Gr 2-Shaggy Dog needs the help of his friends to relieve an awful itch. Before Farmer Gertie will comply with his scratching request, however, the pup must help her round up the sheep. Gertie uses her crook to scratch his back, but relief is only short-lived. The canine heads into town, where he washes pots and pans at Merv's Caf and sweeps up the floor of Mary Lou's Poodle Parlor in exchange for back scratches. When the itch returns, the owner decides that the dog could benefit from a wash and trim, much to the chagrin of the snobby poodle customers. Williamson's bright, playful watercolor cartoons offer many visual jokes-from the well-coiffed poodles dunking dog biscuits in their tea to the tiny flea floating inside a bubble. Children will delight in the final double-spread illustration, which answers the question, "The itch had gone at last-but where did it go?" and supplies the punch line. The patterned text lends itself to reading aloud and is lighthearted fun.
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  Light My Fire
  
  By Katie MacAlister
  
  Aisling Grey 03
  
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  **1**
  
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  “Just leave everything to me."
  
  "Famous last words, Ash. Your record hasn't been too good so far, has it?"
  
  The burly black shape in front of me that tossed the words over its furry
  shoulder didn't stop, but I did, frowning. Jim, my demon in Newfoundland dog
  form, might not be Little Mary Sunshine, but it didn't normally say things
  that it knew were deliberately cruel.
  
  Around us in Green Park, people were flaked out in the rented park chairs or
  lying on the ground sunbathing, everyone happily enjoying the English
  September sunshine... everyone but my crabby demon.
  
  "I have, if you haven't noticed, been rather busy these last three weeks
  getting moved from Oregon to London. But I said I'd find someone to dremel
  your toenails, and I meant it. There have to be dog groomers in England who
  grind away nails with a dremel rather than clip them."
  
  "That last woman you took me to was nothing more 