'The best books, reviewed with insight and charm, but without compromise.'
- author Jackie French

Tuesday 6 July 2010

Review: Dog 37


Title: Dog 37

Author: Johnny Danalis

Illustrator: Johnny Danalis

Publisher: University of Queensland Press, $16.95 RRP

Format: Paperback

ISBN: 9780702234316

For ages: 6+

Type: Junior Fiction Novel

About: Boof is a boof of a dog. He's well loved by his loving family - probably too much so - and his pizza-guzzling weight is testament to that. But when the family head off on vacation and decide to leave Boof at a nearby palatial doggy resort, they couldn’t even imagine what lies in store for their adored pooch.

The Big Bone resort is run by kooky-looking couple – Wade and Perstefanie Grimwald – who profess to adulate the canine population with their expensive paradise for pets. But is it really all it’s cracked up to be?

When Boof, who is quickly renamed Dog 37 (of Cell Block 4), realises just what he’s in for, this pizza-loving mutt can barely summon the chutzpah to lick at a dry dog biscuit let alone perform the horrendous Herculean efforts required of him for the three weeks his family is away.

Worse turns to even worser when a tragic accident traps Dog 37 and his fellow inmates in a rather dire situation. Thankfully, a nearby roadhouse and its brand new pizza oven may be just the aroma Dog 37 needs to summon the courage and wherewithal to help his mates out of a fate worse than death… (which, for this dog, could only be a life without pizza).

Author Danalis writes this clever tale with slick humour and a catalogue of meaty words that make reading a sheer pleasure. Kids will adore this pack of lead-character dogs as well as Boof’s loving and tenacious family, and will happily boo the kooky villains, just as they should.

A clever, suspenseful and feel-good tale. It also gets the drool running!
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