My dog Bruiser swallowed a scooter by Karen McKinley. Illus. by Francesca Quatraro

Children will laugh out loud as Bruiser chomps on some very odd things around Grandpa’s farm. The children are there on a holiday and when playing in the vegetable patch Bruiser pounces on the scooter and swallows it down.

The audience will all swallow in unison at the thought of such a large metallic object going down their throats. Daisy and her brother try an ingenious array of things to make him give up the scooter.

Told in bouncy rhyming stanzas, the verse rolls along, easy enough for younger readers to latch on to the rhyming schemes and remember some of the lines quickly. They will enjoy predicting the rhyming words and offer some of their own.

But the story of how to rid Bruiser of the scooter keeps going, causing the readers to laugh out loud. Huge illustrations cover each set of double pages, giving a sweeping view of the farm and its rolling hills where the children are staying.

They try rolling Bruiser down the hill to dislodge the scooter to no avail. But when they arrive at the bottom of the hill, the dog next door jumps through the stone wall, scaring them all, causing the scooter to dislodge from Bruiser’s throat. So, all is well on grandpa’s farm, except Bruiser is now chewing on a comb.

Next day the children go home, watching Bruiser dig up an old smelly gum boot.

A funny look at staying at grandpa’s farm will agree with the readers as they work out what to do about Bruiser. The story reinforces strong family values and relationships, the fun of having a dog within the family and the role of grandparents within the family.

The illustrations carry the story forwards and will intrigue young children as they show lots of detail about life on a farm.

Themes: Grandparents, Farm life, Family, Dogs.

Fran Knight