Spoilers Ahead: 

I had to read this as it was one of my set texts for one of my university modules. We’ve been researching various different children’s books in order to see what makes a good book. 

Personally speaking, I thought this book was okay - it didn’t really do anything for me, but I wasn’t the target audience so I can hardly be mad about it. We follow Shen as he is in a shipwrecks and there are 66 pugs dropped from the cargo. Shen goes to collect them all, but the captain drives off, leaving him on his own. Luckily, some of the crew members drop a crate of jumpers for him so that he can stay warm, and he uses some of them to make jumpers for the pugs. However, they’re hungry, so he goes off in search some food. 

He comes to a village and meets Sika. She will give him some dog food, in return for a few of his dogs. So, they sled down to the pugs, and Sika is so disappointed. She wanted dogs that were going to be able to pull her sled, and these pugs were too tiny to. However, with all 66 of them, the pugs can pull it along. 

Sika wants to win the race her grandpa entered all those years ago so she can ask The Snowfather for a special wish - to keep her grandad alive for the next big race. They enter the race, and they battle against a kraken, yetis, and even other sledders. Eventually, they end up having to help all the others out, and so they all arrive at the same time. Like finds out The Snowfather can’t grant her wish, but she asks him instead to visit her grandfather one last time. He does, and then Sika’s grandfather passes, knowing that he got one last adventure, thanks to The Snowfather, who mysteriously takes his leave after that. Shen is then asked to stay with Sika, the pugs and her family, and he realises that he got what he wished for all along: a family. 

So, although this book isn’t necessarily aimed at me, I thought some of the concepts were cool, and I think it’s quite likely to be a popular book for children. It’s very innovative, very imaginative, it’s got a lot of childlike humour and also has a lot of good morals being taught - something that we learned in class was that children’s books are there to help shape children with subtle messages that they can learn and apply in their life, and I certainly think that whilst this is a fun book, it has many hidden meanings, such as the importance of helping others, the important of building relationships with others, and also the importance of not always getting what you wished for, but taking it as it comes anyway. In that regard, it’s a very good book, so I would definitely recommend. Only thing I would say is the grandfather’s death is so sudden, and quite tragic - especially for a children’s book! I wasn’t expecting it at all, lol