Wanted! The Hundred-Mile-an-Hour Dog

Jeremy Strong's Wanted! The Hundred-Mile-an-Hour Dog is a very funny story for 8 year olds, told by a boy whose dog has taken up crime.

What happens

It opens with Trevor face down in a puddle in the middle of the High Street. Streaker is standing on his back. She has a whole roast chicken in her mouth and she looks extremely pleased about it.

The chicken's owner is already thundering down the street towards them. He is roughly the size of a lorry.

So Trevor makes a decision. He lies. (You would too.)

That's the book in one scene. Streaker does something outrageous, Streaker vanishes at speed, and Trevor is left standing there holding the consequences.

She runs like she's swallowed a rocket. She doesn't know her own name and she has no idea what "Stop!" means. Lately she's moved on from running to stealing food.

Trevor's mum wants to know what he's going to do about it. His dad explains that taking responsibility is part of growing up, then leaves for golf.

Honestly, Trevor's running commentary on his parents is the best thing in here. He points out that they only handed Streaker over once she got difficult. He has a point and he knows it.

His friend Tina is just as good value. She's cleverer than he is, she has a St Bernard called Mouse, and she likes him in the way that he finds absolutely mortifying. Their bickering is spot on.

Here's the part to think about before your reader starts. A dog warden has just been appointed in the town. Any dog loose on the street counts as a stray. Tina explains the rule to Trevor flatly. A stray is kept for a week and then put to sleep, and the council doesn't have to hand a nuisance dog back.

Nothing like that is shown happening. It's said out loud in one conversation early on and it's the reason the whole story has any urgency. Even so, a child who loves animals may find it a lot to carry for a hundred pages. A child who wants proper jeopardy in a funny book will be gripped by it.

There's also Charlie Smugg, the local policeman's son, who sets his three Alsatians on Streaker and hopes out loud that they bite her. He's horrible on purpose.

Tina's solution to all of it is to hypnotise the dog. Obviously.

What to read next

If the badly behaved dog is the draw, Henry and Ribsy is a gentler, slower version of the same headache. Henry spends his book making excuses for a dog who tramples the neighbours' newly planted lawn, and he's been promised something he badly wants if he can only keep Ribsy out of trouble.