The city of Bedlam has a HUGE crime problem. The Police Chief is stressed out as she can’t seem to get ahead of it, and the entire city is now suffering.
There is rubbish everywhere, smog in the air and pollution in the rivers.
The Chief relies on the city Police Dog Training school to produce excellent crime-fighters to help her and her police force control the city’s baddies, but even this isn’t working any more. She needs MORE. What could possibly help the city of Bedlam? And then she gets an idea!
At home, she asks her clever wife who is a Professor to build her the perfect dog. A dog than can do all the things the Police Dogs can but better! At first the Professor isn’t sure about building such a thing – a Robot Dog?
Their cat Velma is horrified at the idea. She has had the Chief and Professor to herself all this time. Why on earth would they introduce a dog of all things to her happy household? She goes completely mad when the Professor presents ROBODOG!
The bedlam in Bedlam really steps up. There is a billion dollar robbery to be foiled, where only a rat who swears he’s a mouse can save the day. Velma is determined to wipe not only Robodog off the planet but every other dog in Bedlam, and suddenly every villain has escaped from Bedlam Prison. What is a Robodog to do?
As with many of David Walliams books, Robodog‘s opening pages introduce all the characters. You have the heroes, the villains, the dogs, the humans and the SUPER Villains. The action begins early, even if it’s slapstick and silly, the tension builds as Robodog chases villains, supervillains are chasing dogs, and the Chief and her wife the Professor are caught up in the middle.
Absolutely chocka with funny illustrations, maps, schematics, lists, and animals doing crazy things, along with the large fonts leaping off the page like the 1960’s Batman & Robin TV show – BAM! POW! – the reader is in the thick of the fight between good and evil.
Robodog is more on the silly side of the Walliams book scale, but there are plenty of laughs for young readers. This would be a great read aloud for years 6 and up, and fine for readers 7+. There are words that will stretch vocabs but all age appropriate.
Author – David Walliams
Illustrator – Adam Stower
Age – 7+
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(2023, Harper Collins, Dog, Cats, Rats, Animals, Police, Super Villains, Crime, Robbery, Billions of Dollars, Funny, Silly, Humour, Action, Adventure, Rockets, Flying, Catching Criminals, Baddies, Love, Good vs Evil)