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Ross Montgomery's Alex, the Dog and the Unopenable Door is a funny, fast adventure for 10 year olds about a small boy with a very famous dad and a secret everyone wants.
It starts with Alex's school essay. It's meant to be about a great day in history and it's actually about dogs, with drawings he was told not to include. Grade F. You'll know straight away whether your reader is going to love him!
Alex Jennings is eleven and very small. He also gets picked on ALL the time at Cloisters Boarding School. On the first day of term he's made to hold a bucket of water against the chapel ceiling all night with a French horn glued to his mouth. His big plan is to give every pupil a dog (he has a petition, mostly signed with made-up names).
The new acting headmaster, Matthew, arrives an hour late and soaked in ditchwater. He's kind, hopeless and carrying linseed muffins. His hero growing up was a famous explorer called Alex J. Jennings, who set off across the Forbidden Land on a sledge pulled by dogs and came back believing he was a dog.
You can probably guess who that explorer turns out to be. Now Alex's dad has broken out of hospital, shouting one word over and over. The chilling Davidus Kyte wants to know what "squiggles" means, and he's sure Alex knows.
Later there's a talking dog, a girl with alarmingly sharp teeth and a journey into the Forbidden Land itself. It's a proper quest with loads of silly jokes along the way.
One thing to be ready for. The bullying is relentless and played partly for laughs. Alex is dangled over a rubbish chute, taunted about his dad and threatened by two policemen who say they'll take his fingers off one by one. The worst moment is when Alex hears that his own mum has agreed to him being taken away.
A child who's had a rough time at school might find those pages hard. But Alex never stops being funny and never stops loving dogs, and your reader will be totally on his side. If you've got a reader who likes an underdog (sorry!) with a big heart, this is a great pick.
If they'd like more of Ross Montgomery's boarding schools, Max and the Millions has another one. The headmaster there is delighted that the school janitor has vanished, and the janitor has left a tray of sand on his desk that is far more than it looks.
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