Dog Diaries: A Middle School Story (Book 1 of 7)

 

Shirley J.                            Juvenile Fiction                        Stories told by a dog named Rafe

The Dog Diaries: AMiddle School Story (Dog Diaries Book 1 of 7) by James Patterson with Steven Watson    208 pages

This book of stories are told by a dog named Rafe who says all dogs keep diaries, not written ones but collections of smells in their memories which bring up stories involving the scents.   The book is fun, however, my tick with it was, Rafe can say complicated words and decipher some pretty intricate topics with ease, so why can't he say car instead saying moving people box on wheels, and television, too seems beyond his vocabulary, yet, he all but speaks 7 languages, I'm just saying.   Other than the few concepts he does not grasp (uh hmmmm) the stories are fun and I think the younger set would enjoy them, however, forget trying to get over on middle schoolers, they are far too savvy for that.   You are going to have to stay with extremely young readers or passive pre-teens.   It would be a good read-aloud family book (expect heckling from teens).   The stories are good, I spoke my one tick.   James Patterson, I'm shaking my finger at you.