The Dyno-Mite Dog Show
Written by Louise Bonnett Rampersaud
Illustrated by Adam McHeffey
In the tradition of Amber Brown, Clementine, and Junie B. Jones, we now have Agnes. She’s a good-hearted, run-amuck third grader who runs The Secret Knock Club with an iron fist, certain that she knows what the club should do and how they should do it. For a school service project, the Secret Knock Club has chosen to throw a dog show at the local retirement village. Unfortunately for Agnes, school projects cannot exclude anyone, so when her former best friend —now worst enemy—Heather asks to join in, she is allowed. With fun word play, and energy that won’t quit, Agnes somehow gets the club and the home-made dog bones to the dog show, where the dogs are provided by the staff. It might be a smooth show, except that Agnes’ principal (whose mother lives in the retirement village) shows up with her own dog. Will the dogs perform? Will Agnes and Heather get along? Will they manage the doggie wedding? Will there be any ice cream left? Not every twist of the story of the story is believable, but it doesn’t really matter. Second and third grade level readers will turn the page to see what Agnes does and how she might make the situation worse, and to learn why is Agnes’ former best friend her enemy anyhow.
While longer than the original than many early chapter books, this new “The Secret Knock Club” chapter book series will work as a read-aloud for younger kids. They will appreciate the boy who misspells everything and always wears a cape, as well as the dogs, the grandma, and the champion bubble-blowing pal. This may also work as a good read for kids who are not quite on grade-level, but ready for chapter books, as the vocabulary and the sentence length are short and snappy, matching Agnes’ energy level.
Title: The Dyno-Mite Dog Show- Author: Louise Bonnett Rampersaud
- Illustrator: Adam McHeffey
- Publisher: Amazon Children’s Publishing
- Reviewer: Amy S. Hansen
- Hardcover: 106
- ISBN: 978-0767462132
- Genre: fiction, early chapter book.
- Lexile Score: 450
