'It's an animal with an engine.
Or is it a car with floppy ears and a wet nose?
This is the world of TruckDogs.'

Are TruckDogs hybrid or mutants?  Is this book a picture book, a novel or an illustrated text?   Graeme Base, one of Australia's best known and respected makers of picture books, has once again pushed the boundaries with this hybrid text TruckDogs.  

His award winning picture books, such as  Animalia, The Eleventh Hour, and The Worst Band in the Universe have demonstrated his artistic talents as well as his ability to make very readable stories.  You decide for yourself what genre this fits into, but what is certain is that it is a jolly good read for children of all ages, including the 'grownups'.   

Set in a futuristic outback Australia, TruckDogs are just that – half dog and half truck!  There is a real "Mad Max" feel to the book as the locals in the town of Hubcap must band together to overcome the RottWheeler Gang who have invaded their seemingly peaceful town.  The language through out the book is incredibly 'tongue in cheek' and adds so much to the atmosphere of the story.  The whole book has a 'what if' appeal and the reader can willingly suspend disbelief and enjoy the story. 

The characters are a delightful mix of vehicle and animal but all act in very human ways.  Sparky, a young Jack Russell / Ute cross is the bouncy son of the widowed Mayor Plugg and is the archetypal 'young hero'.  The drifter Rex, a Red Setter/Tractor who has 'bald tyres, loose funnel, missing hubcaps, leaky exhaust, is out of rego, and no roadworthy', becomes the mentor to Sparky and the 'gang' and is the unsung hero of the tale.  The adolescent Mongrel Pack street gang  is 'a motley collection of makes and breeds, young enough to still have their original tyres, old enough to be sporting lots of scratches and several impressive dents'.  They are lead by Hercules, a Great Dane/ Ore truck hybrid, and must also do their part to rid the town of the evil ‘out of towner’ RottWheelers, lead by Norman J. Snitt (Alias: Mr BIG), a Chihuahua / BMW Isetta cross who "probably suffers from small-dog inferiority syndrome".  

Scattered throughout the book are 16 detailed diagrams of the characters, which add so much to the story and helps the reader/viewer to understand the characters and their roles in the story.  There is no gender stereotyping in this book as the ‘good guys’ are both male and female as are the ‘bad guys’.  

The theme of good overcoming evil is very strong in this story and is fairly straight-forward, as is the linear plot development.  But the fun and games along the way (such as the young TruckDogs' game of 'sheep-leaping' and escaping from the DesertDogs-Dingo/ 4X4 cross) will certainly have the reader eagerly turning the page to see what happens next.

Other books by this author:
Animalia, The Eleventh Hour, The Discovery of Dragons, My Grandma lived in Gooligulch, The Sign of the Sea Horse, The Waterhole

Review by Maureen O'Brien

© 2004 Maureen O'Brien