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発行者による作品情報
Olivia has just about had it with the popular kids at school. She and her friends have done nothing to deserve evil pranks and awful name-calling, but that doesn't stop queen bee Brynne from humiliating them on a daily basis. If only Olivia's classmates were more like the adorable dogs she helps her grandmother train-poorly behaved, but improvable. Wait . . . what if her tormentors' behavior actually could be modified using the same type of training that works on dogs? Olivia and her friends are desperate enough to give it a try. But is it really possible that the underdogs of Hubert C. Frost Middle School could make it to head of the pack?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A clever premise is taken a step too far to be believable in this first novel about the dog-eat-dog world of middle school. Eighth-grader Olivia, the granddaughter of a dog trainer, thinks she has a solution for the bullies who torment her and her friends: "use dog-training on everyone in school, secretly, of course." This means taking a more aggressive stance against the alpha girls and rewarding good behavior with treats, like homemade cookies and gum. The plan works better than expected, and some of the most vicious students are soon (literally) eating out of the underdogs' hands. But Olivia learns that people are far more resentful than canines when they realize they've been manipulated. The story, which offers a generous quantity of dog puns, is formulaic, and Olivia's short-lived success and her eventual bonding with her archenemy, Brynne, are predictable. Nonetheless, Olivia emerges as a sympathetic heroine amid cookie-cutter villains and victims. Her internal conflicts, pertaining to low self-esteem and unresolved feelings toward her absent, mentally ill mother, come across as more genuine than her struggles with peers. Ages 10 up.
