The Great Fire Dogs

Megan Rix's The Great Fire Dogs is a historical animal adventure for 10 year olds about a kitchen puppy and a royal one in London in 1666.

What happens

It starts in the snow. The Thames has frozen, skaters are swishing under London Bridge, and a tiny puppy has wriggled out of a dog seller's basket and wandered out on to the ice. George, a twelve-year-old apprentice in the palace kitchens, skids out to grab him just before the skaters reach him.

George names him Woofer (it's a very big bark for such a small dog). He's going to train him as a turnspit, one of the short-legged dogs who trot inside a wheel to turn the meat over the kitchen fire.

Then there's Tiger Lily. She's a spaniel puppy sent over from France as a present for King Charles II, and she arrives seasick and miserable. When a nobleman in a long curly wig carries her out to the Privy Garden, George has no idea who he's chatting to. (It's the king!)

The two puppies are best friends in no time. Tiger Lily keeps sneaking down the stairs to the kitchen to find Woofer. Woofer wrestles the king's wig off its stand. And George trains them so well they're asked to dance at the May Day celebrations, jewelled collars and all.

It's a lovely way into a time kids might meet at school. The frozen river, the pottage, the plague water Humphrey the cook swears by, the smelly streets. You feel all of it, and it never reads like a lesson.

One thing to be aware of. The plague has only just ended when the story begins, and the book is honest that stray dogs and cats were rounded up and killed because people thought they spread it. George's own parents died of smallpox when he was small. It's all background and it's handled gently, but a real animal lover might feel it.

And the fire in the title? That's the danger Woofer and Tiger Lily have to survive together.

For a reader who loves dogs and history, this is a perfect match.

What to read next

Want more from Megan Rix? The Lost War Dog tells another friendship story through a much-loved dog. Tilly shares her little dachshund Wuffly with her best friend Gretchen in Hamburg, just as life for Tilly's Jewish family is becoming frightening. It's a heavier read, so have a look first.