Scrap #2 Oh My Dog! product reviews

In the second of the scrap series, scrap has the opportunity to go work on a sheep farm, right next to where his mum lives. But can he get to her, as much as he wants to, forces are determined to stop him.

Scrap, Oh my dog is suggested to be suited for ages 7-9 yrs, however I think they are suited to older children (tweens/teens) also, if not more. As stated by another reviewer, the chapters are longer, and therefore less appealing to younger children who do prefer to be able to read their stories all at once where possible.

Like the first book, oh my dog has some pretty full on scenes also, at one point you wonder if Scrap is even going to survive, and for younger children this could be quite upsetting to read, if they are not prepared for this kind of thing to happen in a book. I myself liked the pencil sketches of Scrap through the book, I found them quite appealing, and even miss 6 enjoyed these too. I also like that the series is written by a New Zealand author although to old for my girl to read just yet, I would be keen to see if there are further stories in the series

We read the first Scrap book almost straight away, but getting my daughter to agree to the second book was a lot harder. She seems to prefer the faster pace of the books with super short chapters (one or two pages) or a book where we do a chapter a night and it's over by the end of the week. I had to agree that pace-wise the Scrap books are not too quick and there is a lot of detail about farming.

The detail was fun for me (I'm a townie) and I learnt a lot about how sheep dogs, farm work and the different kinds and roles they play in the rounding up. My daughter, however, wanted more action, more adventure and more scenes with the chickens. She is a little bird crazy. The second book disappointed on that note, but it did have some action and adventure. There are escapes and injuries, much like the first book. If you or your child has a weak tummy for injuries this is probably not the book for you.

I enjoyed the flow of the story, but I suspect that this is best suited to children in the 7+ range. My daughter is not quite 6 and this wasn't her cup of tea. I also think a boy would enjoy the book a bit more, though dogs are cute by anyone's standard. This has a good moral and a bit of a twist to hook you to the third book as well. At $15 it reads longer than a Geronimo Stilton books for only slightly dearer. A pretty good read.