Pet War, by Allan Woodrow (Scholastic, 272 pp, $4.99 PB, grades 3-7, ages 8-11, 2015) Review by Skye Anderson.
Dogs. Boys' Best Friends.
It's the fourth week of a four week contest to earn $500 for a dog and beat your perfect older sister who wants a - cat! The suspense deepens. Will you make it? Who will win and get to choose the pet? You have certainly tried hard enough and put sports (you are a soccer star) and homework on the back burner to concentrate on beating your older sister, Lexi, Little Miss Perfect, who wants a cat! She already has a name for it - Fluffernutter! She loves to tutor* and make signs with glitter on them for sale.
First, Otto, our hero, earns money by helping shoppers take their groceries to their car until he puts a bag in the wrong car and gets fired.
"It wasn't my fault at all, though. It was the convertible's fault. And Lexi's just because she's Lexi and everything is her fault." (p. 80)
Then he decided to bake cookies - chocolate chip cookies from a recipe. Of course the recipe calls for sugar and sugar is good so our Otto puts in four times the sugar, thinking his cookies will be four times as good.
Then he hires his smart best friend** to manage his dogwalking business but friends fight and Otto and Malcolm are no exception. During the summer, Otto had coached Malcolm on soccer and now Malcolm, besides being a math whiz was taking Otto's place on the soccer team! What else can go wrong?
Sibling Rivalry Means War!
What can go wrong, will go wrong. From beagles to border collies to Afghan hounds and mutts. Walking dogs as a kid and trading barbs with your best friend. . . . and your perfect older sister.
With 29 chapters, the book is long but you can read a chapter at a time. And the suspense builds as you earn (and lose) money and your perfect big sister does the same. Author Allan Woodrow included many really funny and original scenes and he has really hit the nail on the head as far as realistic sibling rivalry goes.
And, after all, it's all about family, even if Dad has moved out and you only get to stay with him every other weekend. And even if he always wanted a dog.
And, no, I won't tell you who won: the perfect older sister who wants a kitten or the brother who needs a dog. You will just have to read the whole book to find out! And it is all about the R-word - Responsibility.***
*As our Otto is putting up fliers for his business (You Ought to Call Otto), he sees "One sign [that] stood out because it was covered in glitter. LEXI'S AFTER SCHOOL TUTORING. It included her phone number and a drawing of some books and pencils. I taped my flier on top of it." (p. 107)
*"That's a funny thing about being a boss. It doesn't do any good if you have no one to boss. But if you boss people too much, they won't stick around to be bossed anymore. No wonder bosses make so much money. They need to get paid just to keep track of the whole thing." (p. 194)
***"I had a calendar, although it was last year's. Still a Tuesday is a Tuesday, right? It's not like the days change names every year." (p. 135)
Note: as a dog walker and member of a professional dog walking organization, I do not recommend children walking dogs unless fully capable and trained in positive reinforcement methods and then only walking well-trained dogs
