hollowspine's review
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
Dog Days is about Gavin, who has just moved to a new neighborhood and new school. When he invites his new friend Richard over they sneak into his sister’s bedroom to grab a couple pieces of candy from her hidden stash, but Richard tosses a snow globe to Gavin as a joke. Gavin misses the unexpected toss and the globe smashes on the ground. Of course, Gavin immediately gets caught and has to face the punishment.
The punishment is having to walk his Aunt’s cruddy, ankle-biting Pomeranian, Carlotta, everyday after school, before he even gets to have his snack, five whole wheat crackers with grape jelly. It’s unbearable! The story goes through the week as Gavin walks Carlotta, tries to make friends with Richard and avoid the school bully Harper and keep up with his school work.
It was a bit weird how pretty much everyone was giving Gavin a hard time, from his sister to the girls at school there were very few friendly people in the neighborhood. Every day Gavin had a run in with somebody, a teenager at the park who denied that his dog had Carlotta’s chew toy, the girls who found Carlotta in the end were little jerks, even when it was obvious that Carlotta was Gavin’s missing pet, they kept trying to find excuses to keep her.
Finally in the end Gavin is able to come home and have his snack of wheat crackers and grape jelly. I could really sympathize with him at this point, it’s really tough when a comforting routine, like having a specific snack at a specific time, is disrupted, especially when it’s replaced by something unpleasant, like a chore.
This was another book I am considering for the summer 1-3 grade book club.
The punishment is having to walk his Aunt’s cruddy, ankle-biting Pomeranian, Carlotta, everyday after school, before he even gets to have his snack, five whole wheat crackers with grape jelly. It’s unbearable! The story goes through the week as Gavin walks Carlotta, tries to make friends with Richard and avoid the school bully Harper and keep up with his school work.
It was a bit weird how pretty much everyone was giving Gavin a hard time, from his sister to the girls at school there were very few friendly people in the neighborhood. Every day Gavin had a run in with somebody, a teenager at the park who denied that his dog had Carlotta’s chew toy, the girls who found Carlotta in the end were little jerks, even when it was obvious that Carlotta was Gavin’s missing pet, they kept trying to find excuses to keep her.
Finally in the end Gavin is able to come home and have his snack of wheat crackers and grape jelly. I could really sympathize with him at this point, it’s really tough when a comforting routine, like having a specific snack at a specific time, is disrupted, especially when it’s replaced by something unpleasant, like a chore.
This was another book I am considering for the summer 1-3 grade book club.
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