Harper Collins Australia

August 2023

ISBN 9780008565336

• Imprint: HarperCollins GB

RRP: $15.99

This is just pure fun, feel-good all the way, and made for an enjoyable read. Your confident independent readers who are already loving Dotty Detective and Marshmallow Pie, will go just as nuts for this new series – particularly, of course, if they are dog-lovers!

Central character, Eve, is sweet and smart. Together with her besties, Simone and Ash, they research, write and illustrate their own newspaper, the printing of which is aided and abetted by their biggest supporter, school librarian Ms Kapoor aka Meera. It is happy-making to see the diversity included here, with various cultures represented and Ash, identifying as non-binary. [see the article at the end about the author’s ongoing support for this)

When Eve finds a lost whippet puppy, she knows she can’t keep him – neither her mum nor their landlord will allow it. But how to find where the little fellow has come from, when he has no microchip or identification? A chance remark, as the trio begins investigations, about an illegal whippet breeder, and the newshounds are off in hot pursuit, on the scent of a new feature article, as well as Wafer’s owner.

Eve really – REALLY – wants to keep Wafer the whippet, but she also can’t contemplate him going to a dog shelter, so finding out how Wafer came to be lost is very important. The intrepid reporters come up against one dead end lead after another, despite the willingness of others to try to help. Will the Dog Squad be able to solve the mystery and ensure Wafer’s wellbeing? Readers will certainly be keeping their fingers crossed for these charming characters.

Like Vulliamy’s other books, this is completely engaging for your early readers, and being heavily illustrated adds to the enjoyment of the narrative. I sometimes find that the early chapter books can be hit-and-miss – either too simple to fully immerse the reader, or the plot too removed from them being able to make connections, but Vulliamy really does have a knack for hitting the sweet spot for this readership (probably as one would fully expect with her lineage, as the daughter of Shirley Hughes!).

Check out her website which has more fun for Smalls. I absolutely fully endorse this one! I’d go as far as to say it’s definitely one of the best (if not top of the tree) of its type I’ve read this year. And how could I resist adding the illo of the wonderful school librarian!*wink*

Clara Vulliamy: On representing Trans and Non-Binary children in fiction, and remembering Shirley Hughes