Dog on a Digger: The Tricky Incident by Kate Prendergast
| Dog on a Digger: The Tricky Incident by Kate Prendergast | |
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| Category: For Sharing | |
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Reviewer: Sue Magee
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| Summary: Another brilliant, wordless book from Kate Prendergast and a book to treasure for the drawing skill and the compelling story. Will be loved by everyone from three to 133. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 24 | Date: October 2016 |
| Publisher: Old Barn Books | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1910646144 | |
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I'm going to tell you a story about Dog, Man, Lady and the Pup. They all work on an industrial site - in fact Dog and Man live there in a caravan and Man drives the sort of digger which is dreamed about by boys large and small. Lady and the Pup run the snack bar and one day as they're all having something to eat, the Pup goes missing. Man and Lady search everywhere but it's Dog's sharp ears which finally track him down - caught in a branch over a fast-flowing stream. And it's Dog who works out how to rescue him. I needed 88 words to tell you that story, but Kate Prendergast does it without using a single one - and she tells it in a far more engaging way than I could ever manage.
I first fell in love with Dog when he returned Boy's hat to him and strangely enough it's only a few days ago that I had another look at that story. It's one of the few books which I've reviewed which I've kept and I've been quietly hoping that I would see more of Dog. Sometimes the reviewing gods are good to me and Dog on a Digger: The Tricky Incident landed on my desk just a couple of days ago. You can tell how popular Dog is - when I mentioned that there was another book about him people in an office which sees thousands of books a year smiled and actually pulled out chairs so that they could sit and have a look at what he was up to now. The Dog books are not ones to rush: they're ones to savour.
Dog on a Train was black and white with just the odd touch of red: Dog on a Digger is black and white with just the odd touch of yellow. Even Dog has to wear a high-vis jacket and hard hat on the site! Despite the limited colour palette the story jumps out at you and much of it is told through Dog's body language. Kate Prendergast knows her dogs and she knows that just a small change in a dog's expression or stance can speak volumes. Just look at Dog as he sits it the digger, very upright and peering through the screen - he won't miss anything that's going on - or the sequence of drawings as he wakes in the morning. They're perfect.
Best of all though is the sequence where the Pup is rescued. My heart was in my mouth! I was terrified that something would happen to Dog or the Pup, or both: this wasn't just a story - it was real, very real. The drawings are exquisite, but there's a great story in there too, so it looks as though I'm going to have to find space for another book on my you're-not-taking-this-away-under-any-circumstances shelf. I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.
If you haven't read Dog on a Train: The Special Delivery then you really shouldn't miss it.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Dog on a Digger: The Tricky Incident by Kate Prendergast at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Dog on a Digger: The Tricky Incident by Kate Prendergast at Amazon.com.
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