The Wildest Dog and Other African Tales introduces a new story to this popular series. All the animals, including his own pack, think Wild Dog is too wild. In fact, he's the wildest dog they've ever met. His constant activity leads him into a variety of adventures and, ultimately, into danger. But the wild dog pack saves the day and his own mother defends his wild ways, pointing out that curiosity and boldness are essential traits for an alpha dog, such as his father and herself. Rather than squelching Wild Dog's high spirits, she affi rms them. In six heartwarming tales, Avril van der Merwe highlights character traits or habits that may trouble young children. Wild Dog's hyperactive nature gets him into trouble, Pangolin uses her intelligence to outsmart Lion and discovers new friends in the process, Bushbaby's nocturnal habits lead the animals to assume he is shy, Hyena mistakenly thinks that if she changes her identity she'll be accepted, Hippo's envy of Rhinoceros' horn ends up creating more trouble than she anticipated, while Cheetah learns that his bragging doesn't impress his friends. Each animal character faces a challenge, but with plenty of encouragement and support from their friends, a lesson is learned and the outcome is always positive.

The Wildest Dog is a thought-provoking story from prize-winning author Avril van der Merwe. She drew inspiration from watching the antics of her seven-month-old German Shepherd puppy who she adopted from a shelter in April 2021. Avril began writing for children when she worked as a pre-primary teacher in Cape Town, and high school English teacher in Johannesburg. She lives in Washington State (USA), where she works as an inspirational writer and speaker, as well as an author of children's, young adult and adult fiction, and poetry. Two of her short stories have been selected for an anthology for grades 4-7, to be published by Penguin Books in 2022.