Reviewed by Claire
Saxby
Nova and her
friends have never passed their K9 exam or achieved a Best in Show award. The
group of friends motivated by Nova attempt to train in various ways to achieve
their goal. Motivated, but always finding obstacles to overcome, including the
mean comments from fellow students at the Barksdale Academy, the pups finally
come together on the big day. The main action takes place at school and in the
park where the pups train. Nova relates the elation then sadness as her plans unravel
and the pups struggle to change. The team’s name and title of the book
Underdogs relates the fact all the pups started as runts. Dog related terms are
prevalent throughout the book so children will need to understand this if
reading the title themselves.
As an early
chapter book the title has some nice messages such as being yourself and
understanding diversity. Nova’s grandmother provides sage advice to the young
pup aiming high for success. Each pup has different fears or issues. The
frequent black and white illustrations provide good picture text recognition
for early readers or for those who are hooked on the graphic novel style. Overall, this is a good read for animal lovers
aged 6 years plus.
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