First and foremost, if you’re going to read this book, forget about logic and reason and all those structures that adults put in place to control the world. This is a book for young children who don’t  see much reason in anything that happens in their lives, so they  just don’t care. So, forget even the most artistic freedom of action that fantasy and science fiction stories adhere to. Things just happen.

And they happen to people. In this book, the people are animals who live intelligent lives in a human world that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to them. But they soldier bravely on, hampered by their personalities and inbred compulsions. They are motivated  by compassion, love and all the other ‘human’ emotions, and especially the sense of humour.

Not that I particularly get some of the humour. But I’m not seven years old, and this book is full of silly singing and dancing and characters doing all sorts of strange things. But what counts is that they do the right things for the right reasons, and they care about each other.

It also helps that the writer is a keen observer of dog behaviour and translates it to us beautifully.

So, who cares how a dog hides biscuits in his harness, or how a spaceship full of guinea pigs could…but that would give it all away, wouldn’t it?

A great read-aloud story for your grandchildren. You might have to explain some stuff to them.

Four stars.