Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #408561 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 160 pages

Amazon.com Review
Although most grownups know Roddy Doyle better from his Barrytown comic novels (including The Commitments), he's thankfully returned for a children's book follow-up to his ridiculously ridiculous The Giggler Treatment. What's the cast of kids from that nimble-witted book leaving on the mantel for Santa? One of their mother's cans of Guinness. Oh, and 27 cheese sandwiches (minus the crusts).

Doyle's decidedly Irish, self-referential silliness gets a workout on Christmas Eve as Robbie and Jimmy Mack find themselves "very bored and very excited" waiting for Christmas Day. They leave a carrot on the mantel, too, for Rudolph, but soon discover that the red-nosed reindeer's on strike. ("Look, man, next year, maybe," Rudolph tells Santa. "It's a mid-life thing. I need a rest.") So it's soon up to Rover, the smartest dog around, to save the day and lead Santa's sleigh. How smart is Rover? He's got "a brain the size of Africa tucked into a head the size of a baked potato." And like all dogs, Rover "pooed, yes, but then he sold his poo.... The fact is very few dogs are brainy enough to sell their poo."

Few holiday trips could possibly promise to be this fun and funny. In addition to throwaway references to poo and wee, Harry Potter, and "diet water," Doyle often talks straight to the reader ("Chapter Six--The Teenage Years: I don't want to be Chapter Six. I never asked to be Chapter Six.... You don't understand my music"). Captain Underpants fans and like-minded kids (and grownups) will appreciate such respect for their intelligence--and their sense of humor. (Ages 8 and older) --Paul Hughes

From Publishers Weekly
The cast of The Giggler Treatment makes a return engagement for the holidays in this invitingly loopy escapade. Rudolph languishes with the flu and Santa appeals to canine Rover and his young owners to take over for the evening. Doyle addresses readers directly on numerous occasions, and if the fun feels a little frenetically self-conscious at times, it's still enormously entertaining. Ajhar's frisky drawings add to the mayhem. Ages 8-12.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Gr 2-5-The cast of characters from The Giggler Treatment (Scholastic, 2000) is back. This time the action shifts from Dublin to the North Pole as Rover is needed to replace Rudolph at the front of Santa's reindeer team. Fans of Dav Pilkey, Jon Scieszka, and Lemony Snicket will appreciate this zany, irreverent story that spoofs literary and bookmaking conventions and includes references to Harry Potter, dog poo, and monkeys' bums. Doyle depicts a somewhat insecure Santa who needs some spunky, problem-solving kids and a crafty dog to get the job done. Don't expect a straightforward, traditional, linear narrative. The wordplay and the gags are the important things here. Even the glossary of Irish expressions is part of the fun.-V. W.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Move over Grinch..here comes Rover
Roddy Doyle has indeed done it again. This book ( a sequel to The Giggler Treatment) has all of the traits that made the original a must read book, wit, intelligence and a great sense of fun.

Rover is not your basic 'dog next door' and neither is the book. As you might expect, Rudolph has decided not to guide Santa's sleigh on Xmas Eve and it is up to Rover to make sure that all the good kids in the world get their toys.

If anyone has read "The Giggler Treatment" to know what to expect. A fun romp where the reader (from 8 to 80) never knows quite what is going to happen next, but that the gifts will arrive on time.

Unlike some authors Roddy Doyle does not insult his reader, while giving them an exciting and playful story.

Read the Giggler Treatment to your class first if you are a teacher like I am , and then expect your class to want this book!

Fabulous book
This is a great book. It is so, so funny. It is a great Christmas book. I love the author, he writes really funny and entertaining books. I think it was as good as "The Giggler Treatment." I can't wait for his next book for kids.
Ethan Young age 7

I love Rover
THis book is FUNNY. I spotted it in the children's section in our bookstore and decided that it is somethign worth getting for my son (a couple of years will pass before he is old enough for ths, but as an ambitious mother I have already started building a library--I kow it is silly, but it is amazing how many really good children's books are rarely reprinted)

I read it and was laughing out loud. It is a simple story--Rudolph goes on strike and Santa needs to use Rover, the dog. The short chapters are hilarious, and the illustrations are beautiful. Some situations are absurd, and this absurdity is reinforced by the way the novel is structured (with recurring chapters and ads).

Doyle has a great, multi-layered sense of humor, that borh children and adults will enjoy. He reminded me a lot of Terry Pratchett.