Lucy and the Rocket Dog

Will Buckingham's Lucy and the Rocket Dog is a space story for 8 year olds about a girl who builds a rocket in her back garden, and the dog who accidentally flies it.

What happens

Lucy has spent all autumn building Prototype I. It's made from things people leave lying around, like tin cans, packing crates, bits of old engine and flowerpots. She's fairly sure it won't fly. It's only the first prototype, after all.

Then she goes in for her tea. Her big, untidy, huggable dog Laika stays outside sniffing about, wanders up the little steps and noses open the yellow door. She pats a button with her paw. Then the biggest button. And a recorded voice (Lucy's own) starts counting down from ten!

From there the chapters swap between Lucy on the ground and Laika in space. Laika's chapters are the best bits. Her thoughts come in capitals because she doesn't have many of them. She looks out at the Earth and thinks BALL? And breakfast turns into a cloud of floating dog biscuits that she catches like a fish.

The voice telling the story is warm and a bit dreamy, and it loves big ideas. It's full of the "here, there, and everywhereness" of space. Lucy's dad is a philosopher who goes on long thinking walks round the park. Lucy's mum is the practical one, usually with her head under the sink.

Lucy herself is great. She's clever and determined, she loves numbers, and she can tell you exactly how far away a star called Alpha Centauri A is (about twenty-five trillion miles, if you were wondering).

It's also a sad book for a good while, which is worth knowing. Lucy sobs in the burnt garden. Her whole family starts talking about Laika as if she's gone for good. Laika is frightened and lonely up there, whimpering for Lucy, and at one point she panics and bounces round the cabin. If your child has lost a pet, or worries about losing one, this might hit hard.

For a reader who loves space facts and can handle big feelings, though, it's a really lovely book about a girl and her dog missing each other across a very long way.

It's written with American words like "mom" and "backyard", but that won't slow anyone down.

What to read next

If your reader is dreaming of rockets and astronauts after this one, Erin Teagan's Luciana is about another girl who's certain she's heading for space, starting with six days at Space Camp.