The Adventures of Elt the Super Dog

by Daniel R. Pard

In the town of Spring Valley, ten year-old Ralph Eltison wants one thing...a dog. On his walks home from school, he visits all the neighborhood pets. To make matters worse, his friend Jenny had just received a puppy of her own. A week before his birthday, Ralph tells his dad what he wants. Ralph's dad searches endlessly for a puppy, but finding one is nearly impossible. But, luck is on his side, as a puppy mysteriously appears behind the pet store just days before Ralph's birthday. Ralph's dreams have been answered. Ralph and his puppy Elt (short for Ralph's last name) together with Jenny and her puppy Bernadette, take long walks through their neighborhood. Elt is everything Ralph wants in a dog. Little did he know that Elt would become so much more. Spring Valley is a wonderful place to live and had always been trouble-free. However, its neighboring town wasn't so nice. Bordertown was run by a rich, evil- doer named Walter Eugene Crum. Crum and his band of cronies devise a plan to take over Spring Valley. When the town is overcome with unfortunate and terrible occurrences, help is needed to restore Spring Valley back to serenity. Help is on its way, but from very far away. A heroic space traveler named Coladeus and his crew journey to distant planets, aiding civilizations in need. Their greenish, glowing appearance may frighten humans, so they elect to transfer their special powers to a medium....Elt. With a small stone attached to Elt's collar, enriched with energy from Coladeus's planet, Elt is able to run faster, jump higher, and lift impossibly heavy objects. Elt, Bernadette, and the neighborhood pets must thwart Crum's evil plan and restore Spring Valley without any human discovering Elt's powers.

160 pages, Paperback

First published September 27, 2013

Reviews

[Rachael · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book to read & review via Goodreads Giveaways.

'The Adventures of Elt the Super Dog' is a middle-grade sci-fi book. Ralph Eltison really wants a dog for his birthday, and his wish is granted when his dad gets him Elt, a black and brown labrador/collie cross. They live in the perfect little town of Spring Valley where everyone is happy and nothing bad ever happens. But that's all about to change when the mean Mr. Crum (who is exceedingly rich and owns the whole of Bordertown, the next town over) sets his sights on Spring Valley intending to expand his empire, and bring misery to all the residents.

One evening, Elt is contacted but some little green men from another planet who want to help drive Crum out. Elt is given super powers to achieve his task, and with the help of the neighbourhood dogs, Elt plans to wreak havoc on Crum and his cronies.

I was intrigued by the concept of this book as I tend to enjoy anything super-power related but it left me a rather disappointed. The story was fun, but I found the writing style to be not to my taste and I found it a rather arduous read. It was quite repetitive in places and there was a lot of descriptive text that didn't really move the story along and just felt unnecessary.

Maybe it's because this book is aimed at younger readers, but I didn't really enjoy it very much.

[Jackie Rogers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anything to do with dogs and I'm there. ELT is the primary canine in this story with his ownwe Ralph. Again the battle with good and evil occurs. Ralph lives in Spring Valley with his dad who works at home. The mom has passed away and Ralph needs a dog and dad is kind enough to get one. Thus ELT. Being a pleasant little town, Spring Valley, their is another town nearby that is far from pleasant. Bordertown owner is set on having Spring Valley for himself and sets his thugs to acquiring it for him. Entering now are aliens from outer space to empower ELT to take down said thugs. The neighborhood pets decide to help ELT. Will the pets win.