Bestselling Books About a ‘Farting’ Dog?

By Admin - Deanna, on June 13th, 2007 |

Thought this was just too cute not to pass along! Who could ever imagine a series of books about a ‘farting dog’ becoming bestsellers? Well, obviously the author team of William Kotzwinkle and Glen Murray could and did!

Flatulent fun from Walter the Dog

Author proud of his gas passing pup

When you hear a story about how the first Gulf War inspired an author to write a best seller, chances are you don’t immediately think of a book about a farting dog.

But that really is how authors William Kotzwinkle and Glen Murray came up with the idea for their best-selling children’s books series.

“We were working on a screenplay for a comedy about these kids who find buried treasure and it involved a lot of jokes at the expense of the military who go after them for digging a giant hole along the coast of Maine,” Murray said. “We sent it to the studio on the day the first Gulf War began and knew immediately that we didn’t have a chance of seeing it made.”

Commiserating over dinner, the writers were sharing stories when Kotzeinkle told one about being in a hardware store where the owner’s dog, who was named Walter, had such bad gas the customers had to flee.

“I said, Walter the Farting Dog, and as soon as I did, I knew we had something,” Murray said. “It took years before anybody else saw the humor in a dog who farts, but we always believed in him.”

That belief paid off, too. To date, the Walter the Farting Dog series has sold more than two million copies and has been published in 16 languages, including Latin. The newest book, Walter the Farting Dog: Banned From the Beach, is in bookstores now.

“It’s been great,” Murray said. “They’re very funny books – we all laugh at farts – but there’s also a lesson about acceptance that children really respond to that lasts long after the air is cleared.” (Boston Now)

Some of the ‘Walter the Farting Dog’ titles include: