Summary:
Alice’s parents refuse to let her have a dog, so when Alice sees a paint stain on the sidewalk that looks like a dog, she decides that she will make him a virtual pet. She calls him Splotch and downloads a picture of him on her computer. To her surprise, he escapes from the computer and begins to act as Alice’s self-appointed protector. Unfortunately, he sees most people as potential enemies of Alice, including her teacher and the principal, and he is not shy about giving those various enemies a bite. When Splotch starts to attack Alice’s best friend, Alice knows there is a big problem.
My review:
This is the 3rd book in a middle-grade series of books. It is a chapter book with no pictures. For some reason, I thought originally it was a simple picture book but glad that it was not. It is a stand-alone book which was great since I have not read the other two books prior to this one.
Alice is a middle-grade girl with a big imagination, a whole lot of wants, and seemingly a whole lot of enemies. Splotch is truly from her imagination but is also very real in the protection of her from her "enemies". Having this guard dog gets her into a whole lot of trouble too.
Through the various issues Alice deals with, she becomes to understand that maybe the things she thought were true are not exactly as they seem. Just maybe all the people who she sees as enemies are actually people who are truly on her side.
I could see kids who are trying to figure out this thing we call life. working through many of the same issues Alice has. All kids want to be like, smart, and confident in their abilities. Often we adults tend to squelch those things or expect kids to be growing up fast in a fast-paced world. This is not easy for anyone and kids need to feel in control.
I enjoyed following along to see what Splotch may have looked like. I could put myself in the place of Alice and how she felt about different situations. Ultimately, I could see through Alice's eyes, how friends are everything and having even more than one is the best. Imagination is awesome and something kids can control, even if it happens to be a dog that bites.
I liked this cute book. 3 stars.
Disclosure: I received a Kindle copy of this book from the author. I chose to review as part of a virtual tour. The views expressed here are 100% my own and may differ from yours. ~Michelle aka Naila Moon
Where to find the authors:
Amazon
