Barking up the Wrong Tree by Philip Ardagh, illustrated Elissa Elwick

Barking up the Wrong Tree by Philip Ardagh, illustrated Elissa Elwick

2018

Sally Stick has a dog called Fetch. He understands what she says and she knows what his barks mean.  Other people simply hear him bark. They set up a detective agency, Stick and Fetch – in Sally’s granny’s kitchen.  

This volume includes three separate stories – Telly Trouble, No Clowning Around and Up, UP and Away. As the overall title of the book suggests, there are misunderstandings. Yet all works out well: Sally and Fetch get to enjoy some of Granny’s celebration cake, they manage the cheer up a very sad little boy who is not enjoying his birthday and they enable children at the local library to have a very exciting story time.

There is also much to amuse any adult who reads with a child: the adult will probably realise that Sally has misunderstood something every time.  

However, Philip Ardagh remains on the child’s side and any reader will empathise with Sally.

This book is 142 pages long so it has a respectable spine.  There is only a small amount of text on each page and amusing images illustrate this well. The text is formatted ragged right and is double-spaced. The font is Anka Sans, one that is easy to read.