I need a dog. Mum says why do I need a dog when I have such a nice goldfish? But Mum always says things like that. Well my answer is that goldfish cannot catch sticks, or go for walks, or even wag their tails ... can they?

‘Dogfish’ is a charming and funny story of one little boy who discovers that there is much more to his pet goldfish than meets the eye. The character is not given a name, and nor is his fish, but he tells us the story of how he pestered his mum for a dog. After all everyone else has one. Mum however comes up with a number of very plausible reasons, such as living on the forty-fourth floor, at which our narrator comments that four hundred and forty-four stairs would be excellent exercise for a dog! For every reason given by mum you can be certain that there is a creative and amusing reply ready to be uttered. Then one day, when the fish uses his hypnotising eyes a novel idea occurs to our narrator and the story takes on an even quirkier twist resulting in happiness all around.

 A simple and amusing story told with great humour and making great use of a variety of emphasis through the use of fonts to tell the story this will appeal to a wide variety of readers, boys and girls will understand the multitude of excuses given by the protagonist and may even try to adopt a few in their own quests for new pets. Whether they will try out the imaginative ideas is another matter but they are certain to enjoy this  quirky story. Complete with full page illustrations reminiscent of the cartoon style credits of the 1960s TV programme Bewitched: the characters have small bodies and oversized heads and display the most wonderful expressions.

‘Dogfish’ is a charming and funny story with a wide appeal.

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2008-08-05