Lulu and the Dog from the Sea

Hilary McKay's Lulu and the Dog from the Sea is a warm seaside story for 7 year olds about a girl who's determined to make friends with a wild dog.

What happens

Lulu loves animals and has LOTS of them. Two guinea pigs, four rabbits, a parrot, a hamster, a lot of goldfish and Sam, a rather old dog shaped like a teddy bear.

This time her family is off to a cottage by the sea, with her cousin Mellie squashed in the back. Sam comes too, though he doesn't like the seaside (and his beanbag must never be forgotten).

The cottage turns out to be very bare and right on the edge of the sand dunes. The grumpy owner has one warning. Watch out for the dog from the sea! He's a thief and a menace, and nobody can catch him.

Lulu's first thought? "Oh, poor dog!"

Then he steals the dog food from right under their noses.

Everyone tells Lulu that taming him is a bad idea. So she just gets on with it quietly. A trail of dog biscuits on the path, burned sausages by the bins after dark and "Good dog" whispered again and again. Nobody has ever called him a good dog before. (He likes it.)

Running alongside that is Mellie's kite, which is a disaster from the very first pothole. Pieces everywhere, dried-up pens and a chewed-up strut. Dad is training for a marathon and smuggling rocks for the bin lid, while Mum has packed six books and War and Peace. It's funny in a gentle, family-holiday way.

What's lovely is how kind it is. Lulu always thinks about what an animal actually wants. And there's a chapter from the dog's side of things, so your reader knows just how lonely he's been.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

Before Lulu ever arrives, the dog's mum and sisters are caught by the dogcatchers and he watches it happen. Later the dogcatchers come for him too, and it's a frightening moment for Lulu. Then she and Mellie slip out of their window at dawn on their own, and Mellie hurts her foot out in the dunes.

If your child gets upset about animals being taken away, those bits might sting. But nobody is cruel to the dogs. And a child who'd bring home every stray will be right on Lulu's side.

One small thing. This is the American edition, with vacation and trash cans instead of holidays and bins.

What to read next

If your reader hasn't met Lulu and Mellie yet, Lulu and the Duck in the Park is where they start, with Lulu smuggling a warm duck egg into a classroom where animals are very much not welcome.