The Mutts Autumn Diaries (Volume 3)

Mutts

by Patrick McDonnell

Yesh! Mooch, Earl, and all their endearing Mutts friends return in this third Mutts collection for kids!

Grab a sweater and pick out a pumpkin—it’s finally fall! Follow along as our dynamic duo, Earl and Mooch, enjoy the changing colors, start up a (very large) leaf collection, and select the very best Trick-or-Treat costumes.
When they aren’t busy filling their bellies with Halloween treats and Thanksgiving shnacks, Mooch and Earl show Bip, Bop and the rest of the gang that the best way to appreciate the season is with a friend.

Genres: Humor, Graphic Novels, Comics, Animals, Graphic Novels Manga, Friendship, Comic Strips

176 pages, Paperback

Published October 18, 2016

About the author

Patrick McDonnell’s comic strip, MUTTS, is celebrating its 30th anniversary, having appeared in over 700 newspapers across 20 countries. MUTTS has received numerous awards for its artistry and its animal and environmental themes. These include the NCS Reuben for Cartoonist of the Year, seven Harveys and the Eisner Humanitarian Award. Charles Schulz called MUTTS “One of the best comics strips of all time.”

BREAKING THE CHAIN: THE GUARD DOG STORY, a collection of his newsworthy story centered freeing MUTTS chained dog, Guard Dog, will be published in fall 2024.
McDonnell’s latest book is THE SUPER HERO’S JOURNEY, a graphic novel love letter to Marvel Comics and Jack Kirby. It was on 11 ‘best of’ lists for 2023.

THE ART OF NOTHING, an oeuvre of McDonnell’s work, comprehensively celebrates Patrick’s comic strip career. McDonnell is also the author of New York Times bestselling picture books, including THE GIFT OF NOTHING and the Caldecott Honor winning ME...JANE (a childhood biography of Dr. Jane Goodall). Both have been adapted as musicals for the Kennedy Center stage. In addition, he has collaborated with spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle on GUARDIANS OF BEING and with poet Daniel Ladinsky on DARLING I LOVE YOU. HEART TO HEART: A CONVERSATION ON LOVE AND HOPE FOR OUR PRECIOUS PLANET is a collaboration with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. His Holiness has said “It is my hope that this book will open the eyes, minds and hearts of all people.”

In 2021, Ohio State University hosted Side Effects, a major exhibition of his large scale canvases. There will be a year-long retrospective of McDonnell’s comic strips, book illustrations and paintings at the San Diego Comic-Con Museum opening in January 2025.

McDonnell was a member of the Board of Directors of The Humane Society of the United States for 18 years as well as The Fund for Animals, and continues to serve as a director for The Charles M. Schulz Museum and D&R Greenway Land Trust.

You can sign up for the MUTTS daily email at mutts.com.

Reviews

[Brandon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Repetitive and not very clever. Sure, it's pretty sweet and wholesome, but that's about it. I also can't help but express my anger at how empty this book was- I guess I'm too used to Fantagraphics collections of comic strips that are absolutely packed with material but this was basically one strip per page, cut up so it reads awkwardly, with more than a few horizontal strips that were difficult to read on a digital copy as they're all rotated to fit on the page. Of all the strips, I enjoyed two of them. That's really not enough for me to think highly of this volume especially given how terrible the formatting is.

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

If comics could be pumpkin-spiced, this one qualifies. Warm + fuzzy + funny. Who knew there could be so many jokes about pumpkins.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Patrick McDonnell is one of my favorite authors. His stories are full of HUGE heart! And sweet lessons and characters that make me smile and laugh. These two are my favorites.

Meet Mooch and Earl. Mooch the cat and Earl the dog are an adorable BFF duo who get into all sorts of fun and mischief. They show the joy and love of the simple things in life. Autumn Diaries mixes acorns from above, pumpkin stares, leaves galore, and so much more right into the love and laughs.

The art holds huge humor—so much of it silent. No words needed with these two cuties! McDonnell can make me laugh with just a wag of the tail, excited wave, or look to the reader. Some of my favorite strips are the quiet ones actually. Somehow they seem to say so much. It’s dazzling!

I highly recommend MUTTS. If you’re down and need a laugh, Mooch and Earl are the best! Just two best friends enjoying their time together. Come join them!

[amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

reading this brought me back to reading the comics section of the newspaper on the weekends at my grandma’s house, so love the nostalgia. overall the comics were super cute and fun. some were repetitive since I believe this book includes many years worth of comics and as a yearly thing there are for sure reoccurring themes, references, etc. the shelter stories made me tear up as anything that has to do with rescue pets does. this was a great read for this time of year!

[Vivian · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can't go wrong reading about Mooch, Earl and their friends. Patrick McDonnell is a wonderful cartoonist, but he is also a wonderful champion for animals. If you want something that will make you smile, laugh and give you the feels...this is the book to read. For that matter any of his books is good to read.

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess this just wasn't for me. I found only 2 of these mildly amusing...the rest were boring.

[Cale · Rating 2 out of 5]

Man, this feels like a contractual obligation publication. No care was put into the formatting (several of the strips are printed vertically because they couldn't be cut and pasted into rows), and I don't think I laughed once during the read. The best 'joke' is a cameo from another comic. There are a couple of sweeter strips about adopted animals, but other than that, nothing really worth noting. And there's one poem that shows up three separate times (and isn't even good the first time).
I know this strip has been around for a while, but honestly it pales in comparison to Peanuts, or Calvin & Hobbes, or Foxtrot or Far Side. I'm not sure who would enjoy this, or why.

[Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely comic, I've read the strips for years and when they're spread out it's cute. Reading this from cover to cover is too much Fall in one sitting. As always, McDonnell supports pet adoption from shelters- I passed on my copy to the local APL staff.

[Jesse Baggs · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Mutts” is full of heart and charm. My seven-year old found the puns and antics hilarious.

[Satangan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading Source: Hoopla Digital (Free Borrow)
[November 2022 Bonus Borrow]

Format: Ebook
Length: 176 Pages
Language: English

Rating: 4

This book was a nice read that had me easily entertained and I feel in love with the cute characters and the puppy rescue and adoption parts of the comic.

Those squirrels were funny, I never got tired of them. But they'll run out of acorns before winter and their jokes keep on coming. LOL...

There were some repeats, but it didn't affect me much. It is an Autumn diary (fall), so the repeats are understandable in this collection and it brings different humorus jokes.
I laughed a little every now and then.
Its a quick read. But take your time and enjoy the comic when reading.

The comic strips ontop of what looks like wide ruled paper in the background, reminded me of when I was younger and I used to always doodle on my papers. I'd draw random things or make some comics myself. Especially when I should have been taking notes. LOL.

Towards the end, there are some nice learning interesting facts about the animal kingdom on some animals. This is a nice kids book of comics to read and there are some corny jokes (the good and sweet kind of jokes) that you will love.

I like these comics and would consider reading more. Especially the other seasons Mutts Diaries.

[Peacegal · Rating 3 out of 5]

It sometimes felt odd to be reading a comic focused so heavily on the holidays, goings-on, and weather of the fall season in the middle of summer, but this is a sweet, big-hearted collection of comics appropriate for all ages.

Since these appear to be newspaper strips collected over a few years' worth of autumns, I was struck by how frequently jokes and situations repeated themselves. When you have a year between the same pumpkin poem with different illustrations, it's doubtful that many readers will remember it. However, it's a lot easier to see the reruns when they are presented together in book format. I imagine a lot of newspaper strips repeat themselves in this way, and probably have been doing so since the daily medium began.

[Becky B · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of autumn-themed Mutts comics.

There's lots of leaves falling/leaves changing color comics, lots of pumpkin comics, lots of acorn-chucking squirrel comics, lots of birds flying south, a few trick or treating comics, and a few back to school ones. It sometimes felt a little redundant because evidently McDonnell has certain things he likes to redo every year. But overall it's cute and is completely harmless in content. So if you're looking for a safe and light fall comic collection, or just like dog and cats comics try this one.

No content issues. (Unless you count squirrels chucking nuts at people's heads as violence. No one seemed seriously injured by this.)

[Bekah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was just super cute and exactly what I needed at the moment. Mutts is towards the top of my list of favorite comic strips, though nothing can top Peanuts. Mooch and Earl are so silly. This collection was really adorable, so if you enjoy reading Mutts with your Sunday paper, you'll really enjoy this one.

[Molly]

so sweet <3 so glad hoopla had this as a bonus borrow this month. lots of great fall content with the falling leaves, birds flying south, trick or treating, pumpkin picking (pumpkins come and pumpkins go), jack-o-lanterns, football, squirrels and nuts, back to school, and animal adoption. i just love mooch and earl's friendship

[Chad · Rating 1 out of 5]

This will be the first and last of The Mutts" that I read. The jokes aren't even jokes half of the time. Panels are reused quite a bit. Absolutely nothing is funny about these at all, just warm and fuzzy at times. They can't even seem to format these 3 strip panels on the page properly half the time. It wasn't even worth the free bonus borrow I used because I wasted time on this.

[Michael P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

All MUTTS books are lovely books, but it turns out this one pilfers material from other collections. Not cool.

[Dean Simons · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first introduction to Mutts strips and I LOVED it. It went by so fast.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Suitable for primary grade libraries.

[Ella · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a very fun book that is also a pretty quick read. Really enjoyed this. Would recomend if you want a quick laugh

[Kaelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so cute!! I seriously love these!!!

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the Mutts comics, but this collection was a little redundant. Absolute perfect "fall-vibes" read though!

(Content warning for a HP reference)

[Kat · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the illustrations and characters were admittedly very cute, the jokes were redundant and frequently fell flat.

[BB · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why are all of the gags low key really funny

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

a few got a chuckle out of me, but pages felt repetitive and the jokes were dried out after 3 different versions..

[Ashlyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really cute, but kinda repetitive. It was wholesome and brought me autumnal vibes I was craving, but I wanted just a bit more.

[Adam Sequoyah · Rating 3 out of 5]

MPA ratings: G

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

My review for The Mutts Autumn Dairies

I absolutely loved it! This is one of my favorite comics. They are so adorable. This is a must read series! I look forward to the next one!

[kaotickitten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute. It has some references to Twilight and Harry Potter. Makes you wish Mooch and Earl were yours.

[Art · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute. Not my favorite comic strip, but it was pretty good.

[Jessi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not too much to say about this one, your favorite Mutts characters in a series of fall strips.