Having a Go at the Snow: Claude on the Slopes by Alex T. Smith

At 112 Waggy Avenue, there lives a small plump dog who wears shoes, a sweater, and a rather nifty beret. This dog is called Claude, who lives with Mr. and Mrs. Shinyshoes, and the best pal in the world, Sir Bobblysock, a sock.

Every day after Mr. and Mrs. Shinyshoes have gone to work, Claude pops on his beret and goes on an adventure with Sir Bobblysock.

But although Claude awakes one morning, feeling frisky, when he steps out on the front porch of 112 Waggy Avenue, he and Sir Bobblysock slip all the way across the street.

It was snow!

Claude is amazed to see cross-country skiers zipping by and skiing downhill. People without skis seem to be sledding on tea trays. It looks like such fun that Claude reaches inside his unusual beret and pulls out a elegant tea set on a tea tray.

Claude likes zipping down hills and feeling the wind in his ears.

But just as Claude and Sir Bobblysock are beginning to feel a bit of belly rumbling and are looking around for a hot cocoa stand, they see a sign:

SNOWMAN COMPETITION
Fabulous Prizes

Being quite an artistic sort of sock, Sir Bobblysock signs up and wins the grand prize. Claude proudly cheers as loud as he can, using his OUTDOOR VOICE, so loud that he starts a small avalanche of snow!

He is accosted by uniformed gentleman named Sidney Snood, a Mountain Rescue Ranger, who asks him to please speak quietly and offers to teach Claude how to ski--quietly. But when Claude climbs to make his first downhill run from the top of the mountain peak, will he remember not to use his OUTSIDE VOICE?

Claude the dog is up to his usual absurd adventures, in Claude on the Slopes (Peachtree Publishing). Author-illustrator Alex T. Smith makes the most of his quirky canine hero in another of his improbable episodes starring the elegant pooch with a magical bottomless beret and and his loyal sidekick, a sock. For more of Claude, see the companion book Claude At the Beach and Claude in the City.