One of my sons loves stories with dogs. So after he read Woof, by Spencer Quinn, he left it on my bed, along with a note that said, “You have to read this, Mama.” And how could I refuse?
Woof was a sweet, engaging, sometimes humorous mystery, told from the perspective of a dog.
Yes. The perspective of a dog. It was delightful.
Here’s an example, taken from the first page of the book:
Two humans stood outside my cage, a white-haired woman and a gum-chewing kid. Gum chewing is one of the best sounds out there, and the smell’s not bad, either. I liked the kid from the get-go.
They gazed in at me. I gazed out at them. The white-haired woman had blue eyes, washed out and watery. The kid’s eyes were a bright, clear blue, like the sky on a cloudless day. I hadn’t seen the sky in way too long.
“How about this one, Grammy?” the kid said.
The white-haired woman—that would be Grammy, not too hard to make these human-type connections once you get the hang of it—pinched up her face, and it was kind of pinched up to begin with. “Eat us out of house and home.”
The kid cracked her gum. What a sound! I tell you what that does to me, shooting this buzzy feeling all the way from my ears to the tip of my tail and back again. “I don’t know, Grammy,” she said. “Looks thin to me.”
“My point exactly. He’s just waitin’ on some sucker to take him home and fatten him up. Check out the frame on him.”
What a great start!
Here are three things I enjoyed most about it:
The sweetness. This was, at its heart, the story of a girl and her dog and the way they grew to love one another. While there was an intriguing mystery that threaded through it, the real delight of the book came from Birdie and Bowser’s relationship.
The point of view. I’ve already mentioned that the book was told from the perspective of a dog. This made it somewhat silly in some places but also incredibly sweet. Bowser would get lost in a train of thought or he would not know what the humans were talking about or he would try to figure something out as a real dog seems to be trying to figure out. He had a great personality, and Quinn did a fantastic job of portraying an authentic dog with authentic dog-thoughts.
The mystery. Throughout the whole story, Birdie was trying to figure out who stole her grandmother’s prize fish. There were twists and turns and plenty of personality.
After reading Woof, I had to talk to my second son about it. My third son overheard us.
“Did you find out who stole it?” he said.
“Yes,” I said. “But I’m not going to tell you.”
And I’ll say the same to you: you’ll just have to read it.
The above is an affiliate link. I only recommend books that I personally enjoy. I actually don’t even talk about the books I don’t enjoy, because I’d rather forget I ever wasted time reading them. But if you’re ever curious whether I’ve read a book and whether I liked or disliked it, don’t hesitate to ask.
