Children's Book Review

Buster Boppington & His Talking Dog: The Case of the Impossible Bank Robbery
by Bruce Caplan
ISBN-10: 0964461005
Review by Heather Froeschl

In the real world, kids deal with life's challenges in many ways. Some kids are able to make a real difference in their family's problems and Buster Boppington does just that. When his father is fired from his job, accused of stealing $100,000.00 from the bank's vault, Buster knows he has to do something to prove his father's innocence.

Even though he passes a lie detector test at the police department, Mr. Boppington is still under scrutiny and cannot get his job back. Times are hard and the family is quickly running out of money. For his tenth birthday his parents give Buster a French poodle. Napoleon, or Nappy for short, quickly becomes Buster's best friend. An experiment with a chemistry set inadvertently adds to that friendship and just might help to clear Buster's dad of wrongdoing.

Taking a normal everyday problem of a father being out of work and adding the mystery of a bank robbery along with the fantasy of a talking dog adds up to a successful story that children will be sure to enjoy. The plot is well developed and the story flows nicely. The characters are quite likable and conversations are natural, even those involving the dog! Readers can easily imagine Buster conversing with his pet, standing up to a congressman and waking up late for school. A bit of adventure, a bit of politics and a bit of good overcoming evil certainly make for an entertaining and enjoyable read. Kids aged 7 - 12 will surely have fun with this book.