The McNifficents
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
A senior Miniature Schnauzer employed as a very distinguished nanny has his paws full trying to prove he’s still the dog for the job in this sweet and “chaotically entertaining” (Kirkus Reviews) middle grade novel that’s The Secret Life of Pets meets The Vanderbeekers series.
Every day, Lord Tennyson the Miniature Schnauzer does his very best to care for the six McNiff children and keep them from destroying their pink New England farmhouse—and the rest of the town for that matter. But when summer vacation brings the kids home together all day, his chaos-containing skills are put to the ultimate test.
Baby Sweetums is still refusing to walk, nap, or listen to anyone; Ezra is trying to keep a snake as a secret pet; Annie and Mary’s fighting is worse than ever; and Pearl and Tate are scared of just about everything. And when a particularly tempting troop of baby chicks arrives at the house, even Lord Tennyson finds he can’t stay on his best behavior.
As the chaos begin to spiral out of hand, though, something truly awful happens: Mr. and Mrs. McNiff seem to be considering getting “a real nanny” to care for their big brood! Can Lord Tennyson get the McNiffs’ hijinks under control and teach them to behave before the summer’s out? Or will this most unusual nanny find himself out of a job and back in the doghouse?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A proper miniature schnauzer and self-appointed nanny seeks to tame his unruly charges in a lively role-reversing family story by Makechnie (Ten Thousand Tries). When an event on the first day of summer sees the McNiff clan again ejected from the local lake, pup Lord Tennyson, "a short, middle-aged gentleman with white whiskers and a royal pedigree," resolves to change things by season's end. The children—ranging from 18 months to 13 years—each serve up their own style of disorderly conduct, however, while their free-spirited, largely hands-off parents are often in the wings. But keeping constant watch and employing well-timed barks, frowns, licks, and tugs is only the beginning for Tenny. In addition to doing nanny research and attempting to teach the children basic dog-care tasks, he must take on rescue missions (e.g., pulling toddler Sweetums from the lake) and check his raw canine instincts around the family's baby chicks. Makechnie invites readers into a sometimes frenetic household that's frequently suffused with love and laughs. Humor abounds in quirky details—avian creatures named after Downton Abbey characters, Tenny's formal inner dialogue and love of the film Mary Poppins—while the siblings' bickering, teasing, and supportive interactions ring true. The human family reads as white. Ages 8–12.
