Dog Diaries – Ruffing It

James Patterson and Steven Butler's Ruffing It is a very silly camping adventure for 7 year olds, told by the most excitable dog you'll ever meet.

What happens

Junior is going on holiday. His first ever really real holiday! And when the car pulls up at Rambling Ridge Campground, he can hardly believe his luck. It's THE WOODS.

Junior belongs to a boy called Ruff, and he tells you everything in his own doggy words. A tent is a flappy kennel. A car is a moving people-box on wheels. He calls you "my person-pal", and your reader will probably be saying it by bedtime.

His family aren't quite as thrilled. Ruff's sister sulks in the car. Ruff sits in the long grass looking sadder than an empty food bowl. But then Junior's whole gang of doggy friends turns up at the campground, so it's going to be brilliant.

Until Iona Stricker arrives in an enormous camper van with her snooty poodle, Duchess. Stricker is sure Junior is a very bad dog, and she's parked right next door. Poor Ruff ties Junior's lead to a tent peg to keep him out of trouble, and the raccoons go completely unbarked at.

Then a van from the dog shelter rolls into the campsite. The warden is hunting an escaped dog, and Junior decides he and his friends will be the ones to track it down. What they find turns the whole holiday upside down.

This is the fifth Dog Diaries book, and Junior mentions a few earlier adventures along the way. You don't need them to follow this one, though. He explains everything as he goes (loudly, and often in CAPITALS).

It's a lot of fun to read. Junior's so excited he's practically bouncing off the page, and he's very, very sure that every plan he comes up with is genius. (They aren't all genius.)

There's nothing much to worry about here. Stricker is mean and the shelter is known as "pooch prison", but it's all silly rather than scary.

What to read next

If they want more of Junior, try Happy Howlidays, where he overhears his family talking about the holiday season and decides a whole season made for howling is the best news he's ever heard.