- first book in popular humor series written from the perspective of a dog
- Hank tries to solve murder (of chickens) mysteries while guarding his ranch
- convo: drunkenness (intended to be funny, no consequences), lying, sexual innuendos
- language: x3 gee/geeze, dummy, x3 stupid, x4 shut up, x2 idiot, x7 dang/dad-danged, x4 dern/derned, x6 heck, dad-gummed, x3 gosh, scared the fool out of me, son of a buck, an old devil, holy cats, name calling (dummy, pipsqueak, wild hag, etc.), x1 shucks, x1 by golly
Type: chapter book
Ages: none
Author: John R. Erickson
Illustrator: Gerald L. Holmes
Weighing the good against the bad, the latter is definitely heavier. Yes, there were some hilarious parts (my children particularly liked hearing chapter four), but overall it didn’t win any accolades in our opinions. I didn’t mind the bad grammar as some people do–sometimes it’s fun reading that style aloud (as in this case)–but, to be blunt, it just felt really dumb. The main character is lacking in the smarts department, he lies, he enjoys talking about “women” (female dogs), and he frequently name-calls other creatures.
I have heard that subsequent books in the series are better than this first book, but that’s secondhand news–I’ve only read this one. Now, if your child just absolutely loves light and funny books like this, I’d rather point you to James Patterson’s “Dog Diaries” series. They are the same kind of dumb but cleaner. Ha! I reviewed the first of that series here as well as the Christmas-themed one here.
Perhaps I’ll be able to read more of the Hank books in the future to gain a deeper perspective into the series. If I do, I’ll update this post with fresh thoughts if they’re warranted!
Thanks for reading my book thoughts. 😊