Tommy Greenwald’s My Dog is Better than Your Dog is a funny story for 9 year olds about a boy whose new rescue dog just might be a vampire.<\/p>\n
Jimmy Bishop is two days from the start of the school year when a blotch appears on his face. Dad says it’s the exact shape of Rhode Island. His big sister Misty is delighted.<\/p>\n
Jimmy has a meltdown just as Dad is trying to leave for a job interview. So Dad says the magic words. Maybe we should get that dog after all?<\/p>\n
At the shelter, every dog is too big, too small, too hairy or too loud. Then Jimmy spots a scruffy little mix in a dark cage at the very back. Two different coloured eyes. A black streak down her back like a cape. She sneezes right in Dad’s face, and they take her home anyway.<\/p>\n
She’s called Abby (not the name Jimmy picked, and the mix-up is very funny).<\/p>\n
Abby sleeps all day. She hides from the sun. She runs a mile from the garlic muffins the new babysitter leaves for breakfast. And when she growls at a groundhog, Jimmy sees her fangs properly for the first time. He’s read his favourite vampire policeman book about six hundred times, so you can guess where his mind goes!<\/p>\n
The babysitter is Mrs Cragg. She has jagged yellow teeth, a cane, and a smile that switches off whenever she looks at the dog. Abby doesn’t like her much either.<\/p>\n
Jimmy tells it all himself, with FACT lines and little profile cards for everyone he meets. (Dad’s listed interest is finding a job so he can stop looking after the children.) It’s properly funny, and very easy to read in short bursts.<\/p>\n
Underneath the jokes there’s a boy who’s a bit lonely. Mum is always at work. Dad is glued to his phone. His one friend Irwin is hard work. A dog matters to Jimmy more than he lets on.<\/p>\n
If you’ve got a reader who loves a pet story with a spooky twist (not too spooky!), this is a lot of fun. There’s a bully and a big crush on the girl across the road thrown in too.<\/p>\n
Jimmy and his odd little dog are back on the trail of crime around town in It’s a Doggy Dog World.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tommy Greenwald’s My Dog is Better than Your Dog is a funny story for 9 year olds about a boy whose new rescue dog just might be a vampire. Jimmy Bishop is two days from the start of the school year when a blotch appears on his face. Dad says it’s the exact shape of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12005,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"lr_next_read_post_id":7137,"lr_next_read_anchor":"It's a Doggy Dog World","lr_seo_hook":"A lonely boy, a scruffy shelter dog and fangs that look a bit too big.","lr_series_id":10,"lr_series_name":"Crime Biters","lr_series_position":1,"lr_series_label":"","lr_author_order":""},"book_tag":[22],"age_group":[24],"book_type":[1048],"book_author":[989],"class_list":["post-8183","our-books","type-our-books","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","book_tag-mystery-books","age_group-books-for-9-year-olds","book_type-free","book_author-tommy-greenwald"],"yoast_title":"Crime Biters 1 – My Dog Is Better Than Your Dog by Tommy Greenwald | Read free on Little Reads","yoast_metadesc":"A lonely boy, a scruffy shelter dog and fangs that look a bit too big. For ages 9+. Read this book free in the Little Reads app. 3,000+ books.","acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n