Texts from dog by October Jones

Every now and then someone creates a brilliant concept online and manages to translate that concept to a successful book - and Texts from dog is one of those successes.  I came across my first text courtesy of a friend who posed one on Facebook, and from there found more online, much to the laugh-out-loud amusement of the grown ups in my house.  The texts have continued to come and have continued to be a source of lots of laughing and near hysterical moments as the dog seems to be the perfect example of what we think one of our dogs would sound like (the attitude is perfect - especially as the dog in question is a teenager pushing all his limits).

The idea is simple, an owner has taught his dog to text and they exchange texts on smart phones (so you can see the messages going back and forth).  It is a simple idea but some of the texts are hysterical, combining the voice of an exasperated and slightly out of his depth owner with the voice of a cocky dog that thinks he is the top dog in his household.  Some of the texts are familiar as they have already been online, but some of the others are new and were a wonderful new discovery.  The author has a talent for real humour and has obviously spent time with real dogs with attitude, and possibly a teenager or two, and has developed a wonderful "voice" for the dog and owner.

The language is pretty okay, but there are some text cuss terms that may not be suitable for translation for younger readers, but chances are they already know the terms anyway.  The pre-teen in our house loved the texts I read out for him, so the humour does translate to younger readers but you may just want to censor the odd page or two because of the slightly more mature content.  Loads of fun and hopefully there will be other books in the series.

If you like this book then try these other internet to books:

• Simon's cat by Simon Tofield
• Simon's cat: Beyond the fence by Simon Tofield
• How to tell if your cat is plotting to kill you by Matthew Inman
• Unshelved by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum
• What would Dewey do?: An Unshelved collection by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum

Reviewed by Brilla