Welcome to the virtual book tour for Jojo Debrazza's new children's book, Dog Eared!
Follow the tour to read reviews, excerpts, and book spotlights:
Publication Date: April 10, 2018
ASIN: B07C47Z4V4
Length: 140 pages
Genres: Children's Fiction
About Dog Eared:
Dogs can’t read. Right?
When Sophie’s grandfather moves in to a retirement home, Sophie is delighted to take over responsibility for his super obedient dog, Lector. Her grandfather also gives her two journals for Lector and tells her how important they are. But listening isn’t one of Sophie’s strong points.
Sophie’s dream-come-true turns into a nightmare when the usually well behaved Lector turns super-bad overnight. After midnight on his first night with Sophie, Lector gets himself into all kinds of trouble and leads Sophie into a run-in with the local bully. Dogs in the town have been going missing too. Could there be a dog snatcher on the loose?
Sophie desperately needs Lector to return to his former obedient self, especially when her dad and step-mum-to-be announce, to Sophie’s horror, that they are having a baby. Lector’s future with the family is in danger. If Sophie can’t retrain Lector before Sophie’s new half sibling is born, he’ll have to be rehomed.
Can Sophie discover the magical secret to training Lector, and keep him away from the dog snatcher, before it’s too late?
EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT:
Grandpops winced as he eased himself down onto a padded chair. He rubbed his left knee which was badly bruised from his latest fall. “Who’s a menace to society?”
“Naz, the kid from the kebab shop is,” said Sophie.
She told Grandpops what had happened in the park while she made them both a cup of tea.
When Sophie had finished the story Grandpops said, “Naz is a bully but he probably has his own problems. Be careful how you treat him.”
“How I treat him?” Sophie threw her hands in the air. “He’s horrible. He would have stolen my money if I’d had any. And Lector was only barking to protect me.”
“I know,” said Grandpops. “But don’t forget, your father works for his father. Mr Best happens to be a very nice man. He gave your dad that job. And your dad needs to keep it.” Grandpops put down his tea. “Could I have a couple of sugars in this please?”
Sophie laughed. “It’s already got four in it!”
“Oh well, you better round it up to half a dozen then.” Grandpops pushed his mug towards her. “I’m making the most of decent cups of tea before I go into prison.”
Sophie laughed again. “You’re not going to prison. You’re going to the retirement home.”
“Same difference,” said Grandpops.
Sophie knew he was just kidding. Some of Grandpops’ friends were already at the Amity Gardens Retirement Home, including Mavis Honeyton who Grandpops talked about whenever he got the chance. Sophie even suspected he might be looking forward to moving in, so he could be around Mavis every day.
“Prison food has got to be better than the muck I’ve been given here. Your dad’s cooking has really gone downhill,” said Grandpops.
“Really?” said Sophie. Her dad was a great cook. He was a trained chef and had worked at a well-respected pub restaurant until the pub had closed a few months ago. She plonked two more sugar cubes in his tea and eyed a dirty bowl in the sink. The remains in the bowl were mainly pink and gloopy with patches of red and yellow. She brought the bowl up to her nose and sniffed. “Urgh!” Sophie screwed up her face as she swilled the bowl under the tap. “What is that?” she said, watching the gunk struggle to get through the plug hole.
Grandpops ignored her question. “Have you done your homework?”
Sophie rolled her eyes. “It’s the summer holidays.” She opened the fridge and found an empty carton of custard and a half-full tin of plum tomatoes. “You didn’t eat these did you Grandpops?”
He squinted at the packaging. “Tomatoes and custard? That’s disgusting.”
So was the stuff I just swilled down the sink, thought Sophie. She pulled a cling film wrapped sandwich from the fridge. “You were supposed to eat this. It’s still here.”
“What? Well, it wasn’t there earlier. Leave it on the side please, I’ll have it tonight.” said Grandpops.
Sophie knew it had been in the fridge all along. It was filled with leftover chicken from yesterday’s Sunday lunch and Sophie had seen her dad take the sandwich with him when he drove Grandpops home.
Grandpops tapped the table. “Now while we’re talking about me going to prison. I have something to tell you. It’s very important. You need to listen very carefully, okay?”
“Yep, I’m listening.” Sophie threw Lector’s koala. “Fetch.”
“It’s all been arranged that I’m going to move in this weekend,” said Grandpops.
“Good boy.” Sophie took the toy from Lector’s mouth and threw it again. “Really, that soon? But what about Lector? Have you found a new home for him already?”
Lector bounded after the koala, picked it up and plonked it in Sophie’s lap.
Grandpops straightened himself in his chair. “I have spoken to your dad and Emma and they have agreed that…”
Sophie stopped mid throw and looked at Grandpops.
Now that he had her full attention, he said, “Lector will come and live with you.”
“Naz, the kid from the kebab shop is,” said Sophie.
She told Grandpops what had happened in the park while she made them both a cup of tea.
When Sophie had finished the story Grandpops said, “Naz is a bully but he probably has his own problems. Be careful how you treat him.”
“How I treat him?” Sophie threw her hands in the air. “He’s horrible. He would have stolen my money if I’d had any. And Lector was only barking to protect me.”
“I know,” said Grandpops. “But don’t forget, your father works for his father. Mr Best happens to be a very nice man. He gave your dad that job. And your dad needs to keep it.” Grandpops put down his tea. “Could I have a couple of sugars in this please?”
Sophie laughed. “It’s already got four in it!”
“Oh well, you better round it up to half a dozen then.” Grandpops pushed his mug towards her. “I’m making the most of decent cups of tea before I go into prison.”
Sophie laughed again. “You’re not going to prison. You’re going to the retirement home.”
“Same difference,” said Grandpops.
Sophie knew he was just kidding. Some of Grandpops’ friends were already at the Amity Gardens Retirement Home, including Mavis Honeyton who Grandpops talked about whenever he got the chance. Sophie even suspected he might be looking forward to moving in, so he could be around Mavis every day.
“Prison food has got to be better than the muck I’ve been given here. Your dad’s cooking has really gone downhill,” said Grandpops.
“Really?” said Sophie. Her dad was a great cook. He was a trained chef and had worked at a well-respected pub restaurant until the pub had closed a few months ago. She plonked two more sugar cubes in his tea and eyed a dirty bowl in the sink. The remains in the bowl were mainly pink and gloopy with patches of red and yellow. She brought the bowl up to her nose and sniffed. “Urgh!” Sophie screwed up her face as she swilled the bowl under the tap. “What is that?” she said, watching the gunk struggle to get through the plug hole.
Grandpops ignored her question. “Have you done your homework?”
Sophie rolled her eyes. “It’s the summer holidays.” She opened the fridge and found an empty carton of custard and a half-full tin of plum tomatoes. “You didn’t eat these did you Grandpops?”
He squinted at the packaging. “Tomatoes and custard? That’s disgusting.”
So was the stuff I just swilled down the sink, thought Sophie. She pulled a cling film wrapped sandwich from the fridge. “You were supposed to eat this. It’s still here.”
“What? Well, it wasn’t there earlier. Leave it on the side please, I’ll have it tonight.” said Grandpops.
Sophie knew it had been in the fridge all along. It was filled with leftover chicken from yesterday’s Sunday lunch and Sophie had seen her dad take the sandwich with him when he drove Grandpops home.
Grandpops tapped the table. “Now while we’re talking about me going to prison. I have something to tell you. It’s very important. You need to listen very carefully, okay?”
“Yep, I’m listening.” Sophie threw Lector’s koala. “Fetch.”
“It’s all been arranged that I’m going to move in this weekend,” said Grandpops.
“Good boy.” Sophie took the toy from Lector’s mouth and threw it again. “Really, that soon? But what about Lector? Have you found a new home for him already?”
Lector bounded after the koala, picked it up and plonked it in Sophie’s lap.
Grandpops straightened himself in his chair. “I have spoken to your dad and Emma and they have agreed that…”
Sophie stopped mid throw and looked at Grandpops.
Now that he had her full attention, he said, “Lector will come and live with you.”
Meet the Author:
Jojo is a writer from St Neots in Cambridgeshire, England—although she mostly lives in her head, a carefree happy place where everything is bright and fluffy.
Her debut novella, The Charm, was published in 2014 and the sequel, Mind Games, in 2016.
Jojo likes to take photos of her dog and post them to Instagram and Twitter @jojodebrazza
More Jojo Debrazza stuff can be found on her facebook page, and her blog: https://jojodebrazza.com
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Thank you so much for sharing an exclusive excerpt of Dog Eared!
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure.:)
ReplyDelete