Review - A Dog's Breakfast

A Dog's Breakfast (The Nightmare Club #3)
by Annie Graves
illustrated by Glenn McElhinney
Date: 2011
Publisher: Little Island
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 64
Format: e-book
Source: library

The Nightmare Club is not for just ANYBODY. Only the spookiest, scariest stories get told at Annie's Halloween sleepovers―and if you can't take it, well, tough!

Getting lost in the woods is no big deal for Glen. It's just one more thing he can whine and complain about. But then he encounters a strange creature―and gets on its bad side.

Not long afterward, Glen disappears. What happened to him? Did his mysterious adventure in the woods have something to do with it?

Only the members of the Nightmare Club will find out...

(synopsis from Goodreads)

I'm not even sure how to categorize this. It's more like a chapter book than a picture book, except there are no chapters. Let's just call it a text-heavy picture book.

Surprisingly, the writing itself isn't that bad. Unfortunately, the story is silly and not scary at all. Glen is annoying (he's supposed to be) and it's difficult to feel bad for him because he's just so unpleasant.

The idea of these books being written by a twelve-year-old orphan is probably supposed to appeal to kids, but it's clear that it's just a gimmick. "Annie Graves" has a better grasp of the English language than many adults. Her narrative reads like an adult pretending to have a child's voice. (Now, if I'm wrong and there actually is an Annie Graves, I apologize. I find it doubtful, though, considering the copyright for the text is held by the publisher.)

This is the third book in the series, but it appears to be self-contained. That's just as well. I'm not in any rush to read any of the other books. If they're anything like this one, they're probably pretty forgettable.

Premise: 2/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 4/5
Illustrations: 3/5
Originality: 3/5

Enjoyment: 1/5

Overall: 2.33 out of 5