Carla Fitzgerald (text) and Rebel Challenger (illustrator), Keeping Up with the Dachshunds, Larrikin House, April 2022, 32 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781922503756
The Perfect Pooch Park was the place to be. It was cool. It was now. It was totally bow-wow. And with that, we are introduced to the competitive arena of the local dog park, where the spoilt and entitled dachshunds set the trends for the other dogs in the park.
After many attempts to keep up with the dachshunds’ latest cool thing, be it diamond collars, super snazzy shoes or deluxe rubber chickens, Jet finally finds her mojo, and discovers that being her own true self is much cooler! She loves to tell jokes, and the book includes a page of dog jokes that little ones will adore!
The illustrations by Rebel Challenger are humorous with brilliantly bright colours that will appeal to children of all ages. I particularly loved the super long eyelashes on the dachshunds – very Kardashian! (Although, as a side note, I certainly hope that the intended audience of pre-schoolers will not understand the reference to Keeping up with the Kardashians!)
This clever parody of the pressures placed on us to conform and follow the cool crowd, whether they are social media influencers or kids in the school playground, will certainly resonate with the adults reading this book and hopefully instil the message that life is better when you follow the beat of your own drum.
Reviewed by Gaby Meares
