Although children today are in less danger of receiving hand-knitted horrors from their grandmothers (who are probably busy doing other things), the subject of clothing continues to be relevant.

What parent hasn't discovered some mysteriously unacceptable gift lurking in the furthest reaches of the closet? Or delivered some version of "By the way, whatever happened to the T-shirt with the bears that Auntie Mary sent you from Yellowstone?"

Graham's deftly rendered Harry's features--ears, eyes, tail, and posture--eloquently convey Harry's dejection and shame when he finds himself being mocked by his canine peers. Likewise, as his family searches fruitlessly for the missing sweater, Harry assumes a look of combined innocence and craftiness.

Children getting into the peer-group and fashion-consciousness mode of preschool and first grade readily respond to this story, which safely and humorously displaces some of their concerns onto Harry the dog. The old-fashioned style of the book (first published in 1958) doesn't seem to be a problem, and, for many grown-up readers, it's a bonus. Nostalgia-prone adults will love Graham's small town, where people dress up to go shopping and every little store has its resident pet.

Try the first book in the Harry series, >i>Harry the Dirty Dog. Other amusing picture books about dogs include Norman Bridwell's Clifford series, beginning with Clifford, the Big Red Dog.