posted on 14 Feb 2018

Elise and the Second-hand Dog by Bjarne Reuter, illustrated by Kirsten Raagaard and translated by Sian Mackie

Elise is a very likeable sparky young girl protagonist who shows powers of skillful persuasion right from the outset. She lives in Copenhagen with her dad who is a professional violinist and a keen amateur astronomer. They get along very well but he is dead set against her getting a dog but Elise has other ideas and sets about changing his mind.

The prolific award winning author, Bjarne Reuter, has a huge reputation in Denmark and has a knack of describing a scene in great detail using few words. Because of this I was able to easily conjure up Potifar’s Pet Salon where they go to look for a suitable pet which is ‘located between a grill and a shop where you could get fake nails’. The rather grubby Potifar is himself vividly described and this is helped by the lively illustration by Kirsten Raagaard, who has a style reminiscent of the great David Roberts. I’m not sure that the shop would pass a Health and Safety inspection and the owner is possibly engaged in some dubious dog breeding activities, but he nevertheless comes across as a man who loves animals:

‘They sit in the sun and enjoy the summer air. All my animals have ruddy cheeks’.

Elise is soon attracted to a small rather ugly mongrel who smells of cheese and has asthma and, against her dad’s better judgement, takes him home as her new pet. The dog soon settles in and she decides to name him Prince Valiant the Great. Her mum is away in the Amazonian rainforest helping to build a suspension bridge, so Elise is often home alone because her dad is busy working.  One day she conducts an extravagant christening ritual with a background of grand Russian choral music and uses white vermouth that she has borrowed from her exotic drink loving neighbour, Miss Martini. As Elise solemnly pronounces his new name the dog appears to smile and tells her ‘But my real name is McAduddi’. It seems that he is indeed a ‘second hand dog’ with a complicated back story.

I was impressed at how she takes this all in her stride and chats away with him as he gives her some information about his Scottish background where he grew up in Tobermory. A talking animal is a tried and tested device for fantastical adventures to begin and Elise finds that he is a great companion who teaches her sea shanties and expands her education about all things Scottish. He also gives her plenty of practical advice, although he is sometime prone to exaggeration when talking about his colourful past.

I really enjoyed this very funny, magical story about an unconventional family and laughed out loud at the Halloween party shenanigans that take place every year at Grandma’s Windmill home where each member of the family is determined to scare one another almost to death. I see that the book is shortly to be made into a TV series and film in Denmark – I do hope that it eventually finds its way to the UK.

In the meantime the book is a must have for children who devour a well told story with an unusual plot and memorable characters. Who could forget her marvellous Aunt Fie who always finds a way to cheer up Elise and encourages her use of imagination, and I really wish that I could meet Miss Martini who comes across as a woman with a very interesting past and although I am not a dog lover, McAduddi succeeded in charming me . Elise evidently lives in a very caring community and I liked the way that the family welcomes people who need a place to go to celebrate on Christmas Eve, and the way that her dad is one of the volunteers at the local church soup kitchen. The publisher’s blurb describes it as being ‘a humorous, fantastical adventure which will have readers laughing and crying form beginning to end’. I agree wholeheartedly.

 

Karen Argent

February 2018