The Lost Puppy

Paula Harrison's The Lost Puppy is a warm, giggly palace story for 6 year olds about a princess who simply can't stop rescuing animals.

What happens

Princess Bea is nine and completely animal-mad. Her dad, King George, has one answer every time she asks for a pet. The royal palace is no place for one.

So Bea keeps hers secret. There's a mouse called Fluff in a box under her bed and a spider living in her drawer. (Her kitten only got to stay because he's handy for chasing rats.)

Then one morning she hears a sad little whine somewhere out in the garden. At the bottom of the dry fountain she finds a grey-and-white puppy with big brown eyes and floppy ears. Where has she come from? Nobody seems to know.

Hiding a mouse is one thing. Hiding a puppy who wants to chase everything is MUCH harder! There's a laundry basket, a lesson in walking elegantly with a book balanced on your head, and an important dinner with some very snooty guests. The puppy has no intention of staying put for any of it.

The fun is all in the sneaking about. Bea kicks her little brother Alfie under the table to stop him giving the game away. Then she asks him for a distraction and he pretends to be so dizzy he crashes into a bookcase (she did tell him to make it big).

There's more going on than the puppy, too. Bea's best friend Keira has had bad news about her family's café, and it's to do with those dinner guests. So Bea has two problems to solve at once, and she's not one to sit quietly while grown-ups decide things.

The grown-ups are great fun too. Mrs Stickler the housekeeper is strict and suspicious, the chef shrieks when a sausage goes missing, and the gardener quietly helps. Even Bea's bossy big sister Natasha has her moments. (Bea's mum died of a fever when Alfie was little. It's one line near the start and the story doesn't dwell on it.)

Any child who'd smuggle a puppy upstairs given half a chance will be rooting for Bea all the way.

What to read next

For more princesses looking after animals in trouble, try The Golden Shell, also by Paula Harrison. Princess Ella has just arrived at a boarding school for princesses where the girls all have their own pets, and when her bunny goes missing she needs her friends' help.