McGuirk Dishes Up New Picture Book
with Four Seasons Restaurateur
By Pamela Brill -- Publishers Weekly, 8/13/2009

Dog may be man’s best friend, but for children’s book author/illustrator Leslie McGuirk, he doubles as her artistic muse. In her latest title, Wiggens Learns His Manners at the Four Seasons Restaurant (Candlewick, Aug.), the Vero Beach, Fla.-based writer, best known for her Tucker series of picture books, pays tribute to her canine companions once again. “My dogs completely inspire me with their antics, so to honor them, they make cameo appearances,” she says, pointing out Pekay the Norfolk Terrier, who moonlights as a waiter on the book’s cover, and Guy, who appears inside seeking spiritual advice from his Holiness the Chi-waa-waa. Read more

Four Seasons Owner Breaks
‘No Dogs’ Rule for Kids’ Book
By Daniel Maurer-- New York Magazine, 6/18/2009

Alex von Bidder, owner of The Four Seasons, has penned a children’s book, Wiggens Learns His Manners at the Four Seasons Restaurant, which imagines a poorly behaved dog learning the finer points of fine dining. It will publish in August complete with blurbs from Martha Stewart, Tom Brokaw, Tim Zagat, Mary Higgins Clark, and others who’ll never again have trouble scoring a last-minute lunch resy, if they ever did. As with the Four Seasons mockumentary, there are loving jabs at the restaurant and its customers (“How long does a bone take? Don’t they know who I am?” a poodle complains; “If I don’t get my regular table, I will start to yelp!” grumbles another; and “This place is going to the DOGS!” says a pit bull). There’s a funny celebrity sighting, too... Read more

New York Magazine

Manners for All Seasons
By Leigh Goldman Balber -- Urban Baby 8/10/09

You might think your low-key, local pizza joint is the best place to teach young kids about the etiquette of eating out rather than a world-famous establishment frequented by presidents, literary luminaries and Wall Street titans. Think again. The Four Seasons Restaurant, original home of the “power lunch,” may be the perfect setting for discovering dining decorum (and let’s not forget people watching.) Alex von Bidder, an owner of the Four Seasons, has co-authored a children’s book with Leslie McGuirk entitled Wiggens Learns His Manners at the Four Seasons Restaurant. In the story, Wiggens, a chocolate Labrador, heads to the legendary eatery and joins other puppies for a crash course in dining dos and don’ts. Read more

Small Pleasures for Little Ones
By Jean Nathan -- Town & Country 8/10/09

Wiggens Learns His Manners at the Four Seasons Restaurant provides a more than just palatable guide to being good and dining well through the example of Wiggens, a behaviorally challenged chocolate Labrador puppy. When Wiggens's parents deliver him to a school for manners run by a St. Bernard at the famed Four Seasons (the establishment's co-owner, Alex von Bidder, is the book's cuauthor with Leslie McGuirk), the rambunctious canine is immersed in all manner of worthwhile lessons – and sometimes even tasty ones.