Duncan Ball is the author of many books of children’s fiction, including the multi-award-winning Selby and Emily Eyefinger series, various picture books, five novels, a book of plays and a collection of funny poetry, My Sister Has a Big Black Beard. Duncan lives in Sydney.
Gr 2-4‘Selby is a medium-sized, generic dog who discovers his gift of gab while watching the soaps on TV one night. Living in Australia with Mrs. Trifle, the mayor of Bogusville, and her inventor husband, Selby is a dog-about-town going to movies, concerts, and magic shows, and even acting in a play. All of this is done surreptitiously, of course, since he wants to avoid the inevitable fame that would accompany the discovery of a talking‘and literate‘dog as well as the distinct possibility that the Trifles will turn him into their butler rather than a houseguest. After Selby reads The Art of the Private Investigator in the fourth of these dozen short story adventures, he becomes an unstoppable detective, solving a variety of local crimes and mysteries from stolen stamps to poltergeists. Lower elementary school-aged children may enjoy hearing these 15-minute read-alouds, but older kids will disdain their insipidity.‘John Sigwald, Unger Memorial Library, Plainview, TX
By repeating everything he hears on TV, the eponymous hero of this slim, uneven collection of linked stories becomes "the only talking dog in Australia." However, the crafty canine suspects that his owners will treat him like a servant if he exposes his newly acquired ability, and so he remains mute in their presence. But his knack for understanding and speaking English gets him into-and sometimes lets him wriggle out of-some silly scrapes. Among the 12 "secret adventures" here are tales of how Selby wins a TV contest by correctly answering a history question over the phone, makes his theatrical debut by filling in for an actor who was meant to imitate a dog on stage and foils a ghost hunter's attempts to reveal the spirit allegedly haunting his owners' home. Though the talking-dog contrivance has plenty of potential to please the target audience, Ball's (the Emily Eyefinger books) writing, bogged down by many statements of the obvious and weak plays on words, lacks the spark and ingenuity to pull it off. Unfortunately, the names the author chose for his book's setting (Bogusville) and main human characters (the Trifles) say it all. Illustrations not seen by PW. Ages 7-11. (Mar.)
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
