Dog by Andy Mulligan

There are some species on this planet who 

deceive us, and enjoy doing so.

This book is tough.  It is so tough to read it took me over a week to reach the end. I  kept having to stop for a day or two to recover from the violence and emotional blackmail.  Now I guess you might be thinking NO I won't read this book but actually I am going to say the opposite - do read this book. It is so powerful and well worth riding its emotional roller coaster BUT do not skip to the end. You can trust Andy Mulligan. There should be a happy ending but the twists and turns of this journey will shock and possibly disturb you even more forcefully if you don't know the outcome.

It is interesting to think about the animal characters in this book. Spider, the puppy is good and Moonlight, the cat is pure evil but the other animals characters are harder to characterise perhaps even ambiguous. It is easy to understand why Spider is so confused.

Dog his name is Spider he is very young - only 11 weeks old when we meet him.
Thread tells him:
"Take a look at yourself little dog. You're weak, and you're skinny ... you're still lopsided and clumsy. You're out of proportion too, and you're probably not aware of it, but when you close your mouth your jaws don't shut properly. One tooth remains visible, so you look awkward."
He is a puppy, he is naive, he is trusting and he is loyal.
"He had a home. He had a name. Best of all, he had an owner who needed him - and that was simply too good to be true."

Cat her name is Moonlight. Be warned if you love cats this might not be the book for you. This cat fits the stereotype - she is manipulative, selfish, cruel and very vain. Moonlight relishes her power over Spider. She even convinces him that he might be part cat!
"... and suddenly she was beside him, pressing herself into the rough brickwork, so they were shoulder to shoulder. Spider leant against her, feeling the warmth of her fur. For the first time he caught the scent of his companion, and he was utterly confused."
"The mirrors told her she was still beautiful; there was one up ahead so she practiced her purposeful stride. There was one to the right as well, so she checked her whole aerodynamic form, adjusting her tail and lifting her hips."

Spider his name is Thread. Right from the start he tells the puppy "Spiders never lie, because it's not in their nature; we can only deal with the facts."  And yet when our puppy meets Jesse she says "You don't listen to spiders, surely?" and Flea says "It must have wrecked your confidence, because that's what spiders do. They're complete liars - everyone knows that. They make webs! They're stealthy. That's how they survive. ... They're generally sadistic, solitary and desperately unhappy. They lie for the pleasure of lying, and they feed off the misery of others."

Fox her name is Jesse. Meeting Jesse is such a relief because she is the first animal who is genuinely kind to Spider. She has no agenda. Jesse sees Spider is skinny, hungry and anxious but oddly this little black and white dog is keeping company with a group of cats. Jesse loathes these cats. Jesse is a good friend. She shares her home and food and sets off with Spider on his journey to find Tom. Sadly foxes do not do well in open country when men and dogs are hunting.

Flea has no name. It jumps onto Spider just as Jesse is chased to her death.
"... he saw the tiniest insect he'd ever seen. It had wormed its way deep into his coat, but he could still make out a greyness. It seemed to have its head jammed out of sight, but even as he watched, the little creature shifted itself around and looked up guiltily. There was a tiny spot of blood on its face, and Spider knew at once that it was his own."

The plot in essence is quite simple - a boy wants a dog, a boy gets a dog, a misunderstanding means the dog runs away, the dog survives several awful scrapes and then .... I am not going to spoil the ending.   It is the relationships that make this book so interesting. Click the review quotes below for more plot details. From this site there is a link to the first chapter as a reading sample.

I recommend this book for readers aged 11 and over - and while I rarely say this I do think this is a book that will especially appeal to boys. If you have read and enjoyed Pax then Dog would be the perfect next book.  You might also follow Dog with the Paul Jennings title A different dog. I would also recommend reading or re-reading the classics Charlotte's Web and The Incredible Journey which feature much kinder relationships between animals. Readers who enjoyed One Dog and his Boy when they were younger might take a look at Dog.

Here is an interview with the author. Here is my review of another book by Andy Mulligan Trash.

Original, thought-provoking and with a dark humour, this is an ultimately uplifting read, and very memorable. LoveReading4Kids

This edgy, unsettling story features talking animals and their various relationships with the human world. Books for Keeps

Nest by Esther Ehrlich

The New York Times said this about Nest:

This is a book to take seriously, that has a lot to say. But is it for the child readers it’s targeting?

The greatest strength of “Nest” is Chirp’s clear, strong, believable voice. First-person present tense brings us close to her from the outset, and Ehrlich never hits a false note with this endearing, vulnerable, utterly authentic little girl.

I picked up Nest in a Melbourne book shop last week. Why? I vaguely remembered reading a review, as usual I liked the cover and the review quotes and author endorsements inside the cover sealed the deal. While I am happy I read Nest it is not a book I would place in a Primary school library. It is too sad and too confronting. But it is also powerful, raw and beautifully expressed.

"While it's still just the two of us, just us and no one else, we turn off the downstairs lights. We flick the porch lights on and sit together in the living room on the gold velour couch in the almost-dark and cricket-quiet."

"There's too much I don't know. I don't know why Mom can't just get better at home if we give her lots of peace and quiet and take turns dancing for her and cooking her chicken soup and mashed potatoes and, every once in a while, bringing her an ice cream sundae with hot fudge from Benson's. I don't know when we'll get to visit Mom in the nuthouse."

I completely agree with Ms Yingling who says "I strongly suggest reading this personally before putting it into a school library."  Just as Karen Yingling says, I also found many aspects of this book touched too closely with aspects of my own childhood. I agree this is a book adult readers may enjoy more than younger students - I would give this book to a sensitive reader in Grade 8 or higher which is quite a different audience to the one suggested by the star review from Kirkus.

Here is a review with all the plot details.

I would follow Nest with Scarlet Ibis, Bird by Crystal Chan and The Illustrated Mum by Jacqueline Wilson. 


Nest is an honest and raw account about a family’s love, a family’s tragedy, and a family’s healing. And though Nest is narrated in eleven-year-old Chirp’s point of view, the gravity of this family’s experiences would be best suited for readers at the higher end of the recommended age spectrum. The Children's Book Review

Wings of Fire Book One The Dragonet Prophecy by Tui T Sutherland

I am a little late coming to this series which began with this first book in 2012.  In my school library these were such popular books that students even took to hiding them on other shelves so I was keen to see why? I actually did not expect to like this book but I quickly became caught up in the action and found myself rapidly turning the pages. There are now seventeen books in this series but don't panic if they are new to you too. This first book The Dragonet Prophecy is the first in a set of five which can stand alone although be warned by the end of book one you will want to rush out and grab book two.

It is a time of war. Dragon wars. Ruthless and terrifying and all about gaining power! Who will save the day? Five dragons who come from eggs that hatched on the brightest night.


MudWing - Clay

"He wasn't a natural-hatched hero. He had no legendary qualities at all. He liked sleeping more than studying and he kept losing chickens in the caves during hunting practice."

SeaWing - Tsunami

"Her deep blue scales shimmered like cobalt glass in the torchlight. The gills in her long neck were pulsing like they always did when she was angry."

SandWing - Sunny

"There was something not quite right about the littlest dragon. Not only were her scales too golden, but her eyes were grey-green instead of glittering black. Worst of all, her tail curled into an ordinary point ... instead of ending with a poisonous barb."

NightWing - Starflight

"His black NightWing scales made him nearly invisible in the dark shadows"

RainWing - Glory

"... her long, delicate snout, glowing emerald green with displeasure, rested on her front paws. Ripples of iridescent blue shimmered across her scales, and tonight her tail was a swirl of vibrant purples."

The Dragonet Prophecy centres on Clay. He has been told he is dumb but he demonstrates amazing emotional intelligence when the five are captured and taken to perform for Queen Scarlet.  These performances are battles where the loser is killed.  The queen has a champion - a dragon aptly called Peril. "No one can even touch me. I was born with too much fire."

All five dragons and Peril have to escape but they also have to work out who to trust AND try to outwit the cruel queen and her guards.  There is also the problem of their old minder Kestrel.

I do enjoy books about dragons but the strength in this book, for me, comes from the way Tui Sutherland gives each of the five dragonets strongly defined personalities.

Kirkus gave the graphic novel of this book a STAR review. This book series comes from Scholastic and they have made a very impressive web site with links to puzzles, a trailer and forums. Here is a detailed review.  Here is a podcast with Tui T Sutherland.  I would follow this series with the Dragon Keeper books by CaroleWilkinson and  Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke.

Andrew Henry's Meadow by Doris Burn

Just as relevant today as it was in 1965, this is a heart-warming story about children who want to feel special and appreciated for who they are.  Book Depository

This is a very old book but luckily it is a classic and so it is still in print.  Andrew Henry's Meadow was first published in 1965 and so it seems odd that I had not heard about this book nor had I encountered Doris Burn who is such a skilled illustrator.

Andrew Henry lives in the town of Stubbsville. Andrew Henry is an inventor. He makes the most wonderful devices - a helicopter in the kitchen, an eagle's cage in the living room, a merry-go-round for his sisters Marian and Martha and a "system of  pulleys" for his brothers Robert and Ronald. Sadly his family do not appreciate his creativity so he packs his tools and sets off to build a house for himself. Sam, his dog, is left at home. Andrew Henry finds the perfect location and he builds a splendid house using clay, rocks and poles. Andrew Henry enjoys his solitude but he is not alone for long. Alice Burdock arrives and she asks Andrew Henry build her a tree house. As the days go by George Turner wants a bridge house and Joe Polasky wants a dugout house. Jane O'Malley and Margot LePorte request a castle and a tee pee.  Meanwhile all the parents are frantically searching for their missing children. It's time for Sam to save the day!

When Andrew Henry comes home things change. He is given space for building and he makes something for every member of his family.

"He built a roller coaster for Robert and Ronald's toy cars. By using a bucket and parts of an electric fan, he made a hair dryer for Marian and Martha. The coffee mug he made for his father worked the same way as a bird feeder does. And he was especially proud of the automatic table setter he made for his mother."

You can see more of the illustrations here and here. You can see a video reading of the whole book.

I would pair Andrew Henry's House with Building our House, The Junkyard Wonders, Iggy Peck, Architect by Andrea Beaty and Whatcha building by Andrew Daddo.  If you have a child who loves to draw grab this book because the pencil sketches are sure to inspire them. Also why not take this book outside to read and then make a construction, invention or house yourself. The fun you and your children will have might amaze you.

Toby by Margaret Wild illustrated by Noela Young

Ah yes, the dogs and other animals ... Noela's are so realistic, they seem to crawl, fly or scurry off the pages. Their eyes sparkle with so much life that the reader practically expects them to blink. Karen Jameyson Magpies Magazine

In an interview in Magpies Magazine Karen Jameyson asked Noela an important question which relates to books like Toby:

"Time after time Noela's talents have been called on to capture life's more piercing moments, often a sick or dying pet or grandparent. How is that she has repeatedly been able to rise to the occasion with exactly the right touch?
I can feel them ... I can just feel them all.
But how can she bear to keep travelling around these emotional carousels?
I have to keep reminding myself that it's not real."
Mapgies volume 31, issue No 4, September 2016.

I wonder if this is really true. The book Toby feels so real and this is due to the perfect combination of text (Margaret Wild) and illustration (Noela Young) but surely also both Noela and Margaret have experienced the death of a loved pet. The sadness as we watch Toby grow old is very powerful as is the emotional reaction of Sara.  Mum explains this to her brothers. "Everything is changing for Sara. Next year she starts high school, ... she's growing up, and she's not sure that she likes it. ... Sara doesn't want anything else to change. She doesn't want Toby to get old and die."

I have been reading books illustrated by Noela Young this week. I am sure this one will be in all Australian school libraries as it was short listed by our CBCA in 1994. Sadly this is another title which is now out of print. When you do pick up this book take some time to look at the first illustration of a tennis ball under some flowers and then notice how this image is repeated on the final page.

Having said that, when the subject arises, Wild - Australia's best picture book author, bar none - handles death with a frank compassion that goes beyond mere sensitivity. Judith Ridge The Age


Wild describes the realistic events with touching simplicity. Young's beautifully observed watercolors are less impressionistic than Shirley Hughes's, and include more literal details, but they are in the same richly empathetic spirit.   Kirkus

Keep Out by Noela Young

When I was researching Noela Young for my recent post I found some beautiful words by Maurice Saxby.  He compared the children at play in Keep Out with those by Jane Tanner in Drac and the Gremlin.  Both are books about imaginative play. Making use of simple objects to create stories. In this case a tyre swing.

Here is the one from Drac and the Gremlin :

Compare this with one by Noela Young:

Today I borrowed several books by Noela Young from a library including Keep Out. This is a wonderful book, not just because the illustrations are, as Maurice Saxby said "the best ever drawn" but because  this book celebrates 'people power'. A group of inner city children have nowhere to play. Each time they begin a game the neighbours and shop keepers chase them away until one day they discover a fence and a locked gate with the sign "Keep Out".  They kids go inside.

"Inside they found the ruins of old houses that were being pulled down. There were piles of bricks, old doors, and windows - even an old stove, tucked away in the chimney, which was still standing. All sorts of rubbish had been dumped here, including a wrecked car. Everywhere there were things to break and no one to say, 'Don't'."

The children enjoy several days of wild and wonderful play although their choices may seem a little sexist to a modern audience with the girls playing house and the boys building a rope swing. Eventually the 'game is up'. The council team arrive to clear the space. Ironically there are plans to use this ground for a new "nice tidy park."  The children protest so the workers invite their boss - the Council Engineer. "Then came the Mayor, the Town Planner and a young architect, followed by three aldermen."  Not only do the children save the day but they are allowed to share their ideas for the new  playgound including the name - Adventure Playground.

Here are some wonderful images from this book which was published in 1975 and is now out of print but you might be lucky and find this book in an Australian school library like I did.

Beetle soup Australian Stories and poems for Children compiled by Robin Morrow illustrated by Stephen Michael King

The anthology includes stories and poems on every topic, from rubber thongs to the seasons to bulldozers, and with different moods and styles. The special appeal is that this is an anthology specifically for Australian children from Australian authors, so the Australian tone is strong.  Sally Murphy Aussie Reviews

When I was talking about A Boat of Stars recently I realised I had not mentioned Beetle Soup which is one of my favourite Australian short story and poetry anthologies.  In 1997 it was short listed for our CBCA awards and we shared nearly every poem and story with our classes. Dr Robin Morrow must have enjoyed the process of selecting all of these wonderful poems and short stories. There is art by Stephen Michael King scattered generously throughout this book celebrating the joy and exuberance of each poem and story.

One of my favourite poems is The Sock Funeral by Gwenda McKay. It has two parts here is the cheerful version:

Where do they go, those missing socks
Whose partners wait in an odd-sock box?
Tired of warming people's toes
They're off to a land that no one knows.
Reds and blues and stripes and spots,
Greens and yellow and polka dots,
Dancing away to have some fun
Leaving our feet with only one.
Alas and alack, they'll never come back,
They'll never come back,
They'll never come back.

My favourite story, which I have used over and over again, is Up the Creek by Penny Matthews because it is a great way to talk about explorers and mapping with younger children.

There are some absolutely huge names in Australian Children's literature represented in this book such as:

• Colin Thiele
• Robin Klein
• Libby Hathorn
• CJ Dennis
• Pixie O'Harris
• Judith Wright
• Max Fatchen
• Jean Chapman

Sadly Beetle Soup, which was republished as And the Roo jumped over the Moon, is long out of print but I am certain it will be found in most Australian school libraries. If ever see a copy of this book in a charity shop or used book store grab it with book hands - this is a book to treasure and share.