Frazz by Jef Mallett for October 29, 2012

Wow! I got one on the first try/day!

Without any further clues, my first rough guess is Steinbeck’s “Travels with Charlie: In Search of America.” And now I’m craving some Simon and Garfunkel… ♪♪ Michigan seems like a dream to me now It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw I’ve gone to look for America…

Or the French Connection. Gene Hackman chasing a French drug dealer across NYC. Hey, he was peddling as much doggie doo as the poodle…

No, I think Arianne called it right away.

“Travels with Charley.”Steinbeck’s adventures, seeing America by camper truck, accompanied by his standard poodle.

Steinbeck would appeal to Caulfield… and that “costume” would be a direct representation, not an obscure metaphor.

I agree, probably Travels With Charlie…A great book..And yeah, it would be huge in Caufield’s world…..Anybody who hasn’t read his funny books, Tortilla Flat, Canary Row and Sweet Tuesday are missing out on three of the great joys of life…

“Travels with Charlie” – I agree.

“Travels with Charly” was the first thing I thought of. Only literature I remember that had a poodle in it.

And furthermore, didn’t Caufield already do Faust a couple of years ago?.If I’m right about that, then I think it would be unlike him to repeat a book.

“The French Connection” was a book first…. albeit nonfiction and I’m not sure it would ever be classified as literature.

I think conniption in this case has nothing to do with the French Connection and racing through NYC (why did I think it took place in Paris?) but more with the principal’s reaction to the dog. One of Frazz’s puns.

do you pick your toes in Poughkeepsie?

A conniption is a fit, similar to a hissy

He’s too young to drive a camper truck to school tomorrow.

Without overthinking it, ‘Dog Stories’ comes to mind. Heck, he could be keeping it simple & going with ‘A Boy & His dog’

@ Wolf: Now THAT is interesting, if true. They look a little less silly if there’s a good reason for it, like bike shorts. A little less, not a lot less…

Of the two candidates so far, “Faust” and “Travels with Charly”, I’m leaning more towards the Steinbeck (if only because another Faust, even from a different author, would still be repetitious). But tomorrow will reveal more, no doubt.

The principal’s right about this.

John Steinbeck;s Travels with Charlie (Charlie was his standard poodle) written about 1965, so why would Caulfield read it?

packratmac, he’s a reader and readers read all the great books….He just doesn’t like the confines of school. But yeah, in this strip he is a character who sometimes shames the rest by being so knowledgeable..He’s probably read all the really great books twice…His character really isn’t that far over the top….* would be a little young, but that’s one of the things that make it funny

Steinbeck wrote some great works of literature, but I don’t think Travels With Charley is one of them. I’m waiting for tomorrow’s clue.-Cougar :{)

Why is it that most “great” literature is stuff that nobody really wants to read, but everyone wants to be able to say that they have read it?

I read TWC because they assigned it in school, though not until high school. I probably would never have read it otherwise.

Charlie is a French Poodle, so I am sticking with my first guess of the Steinbeck.

Bigpuma- Precious conceit? My my! You don’t have to read it! This is the reason I do read it. It is smart!

Pacopuddy—I am amazed that conniption never got to you before now. Next try defenestrate. My youngest knew that one when he was 5!

Whoo hoo! I got it!

Here’s a nice point: the fact that Caulfield has a French poodle was mentioned one, and only once, (as far as I recall) way back in the first year. A lot of cartoonists would have forgotten this fact, but not Mallett. (Makes you wonder if he was plotting this Halloween costume gag all along.) Also, we now have the answer to the question Frazz asked back on that early strip: Caulfield has a black French poodle.