HotDog! Camping Time!

HotDog! #5

by Anh Do, Dan McGuinness (Illustrator)

Hotdog, Lizzie and Kev are going CAMPING!

There will be wood-chopping, campfire singalongs and an EPIC biscuit-eating competition. Its going to be awesome!

Can Hotdog, Lizzie and Kev learn the skills they need to survive in the bush?

Genres: Childrens

122 pages, Paperback

Published November 1, 2018

About the author

Anh Do is a comedian, artist and also one of the highest selling Australian authors of all time, with total book sales approaching 3 million.

Anh’s first book, The Happiest Refugee, is his enormously popular memoir recounting his perilous childhood journey in a tiny boat from war-torn Vietnam to Australia. The book became an instant hit and has won numerous awards including Australian Book of the Year.

Anh has since turned his attention to children’s book writing.

Weird Do is an illustrated series starring Weir (1st name), Do (2nd name), a kid with a very unfortunate name. Aimed at the 8+ market, these books have gone off the charts as national best-sellers, resulting in 14 books total and more on the way. The first Weir Do won the Australian Book Industry Award for Older Children (2014).

Other children's book series include Hotdog, the adventures of a sausage dog and also Ninja Kid, the escapades of a 10 year old Nerd who discovers he’s the world’s last ninja.

In 2019, Anh released Wolf Girl, a series about a little girl who gets lost in forest and befriends a group of dogs and an enormous Wolf who become her family. Then came Rise of the Mythix, which marks the first of a number of sagas described by Anh as ‘A superhero movie in a book’.

All of Anh Do’s books are mega bestsellers and all rate between 4-5 star averages on websites such as Goodreads and Amazon.

It’s clear that Anh is an exciting voice in literature, able to delight across age ranges and different genres with great success, and he isn’t planning to slow down any time soon.

Reviews

[Schizanthus Nerd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Five books in and I still love this series! Hotdog and his friends Kev the cat and Lizzie the lizard are on holiday at Rainbow Island, where Kev’s mother works as a doctor. Kev’s been helping his Mum look after sick animals, including a leopard with reverse-measles (his spots have fallen onto the floor 🤪).

The three friends join lots of other animals on the island for the annual Rainbow Island camping trip where they learn lots of useful skills and have fun. There’s even a biscuit eating competition featuring chocolate fudge biscuits. Yum! 😋

Of course there has to be an adventure and Hotdog and his friends use the skills they have learned to help them when things go wrong. The focus on teamwork in these books is always a winner for me. Whatever trouble our friends get into you know they’ll be okay as long as they work together.

I’ve yet to meet an Anh story I haven’t loved. I didn’t find this book quite as funny as previous stories but it was still a lot of fun. I loved the new characters introduced in this story, especially the teachers at camp. Then there was Kelly the kookaburra, who was always going to be one of my favourites as she reminded me of the kookaburras I feed each day, each with its own adorable personality.

The illustrations (greyscale and blue this time) are as wonderfully smile-worthy as ever. My favourite was a crab bringing home dinner - takeaway pizza! However I was also fairly amused seeing a fish jumping out of the water to high five one of the main characters.

Bring on the sixth book! 😊

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kids will love the jokes in this story, and relish the fact that the friends all have different abilities and can work together as a team.

[Bec · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another funny book in the series

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hot Dog, Lizzie and Kev are back and visiting Kev's mom on Rainbow Island. While there, they get to go camping and see what life is really like on the island. Each discovers a skill they are good at and have a wonderful time with the group. Their adventure takes a turn when they have to go back to the campsite for something Kev left and then get lost. Readers see them use the skills they gained to make their way back from the bush.
Simple to follow text so lower and mid elementary level readers can enjoy reading these adventures themselves. The illustrations support the text and give more detail on what is happening as the story unfolds.

[AD · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this series by Anh Do, and this latest installment did not disappoint. The layout with lots of illustrations and limited text on each page is perfect for new independent readers, there's a positive theme throughout of teamwork and resilience, and the story is engaging. No wonder kids love reading these books!

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Book contained twists. Like the friends getting lost in the forest. I also like how each character has a very different personality. Overall the book was stupendous but needed more action. The Jokes were hilarious and weren’t unnoticeable. Good Book

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

We're reading these in order and I'm giving them the same review. My 8 yr old son enjoys them, they're inoffensive and occasionally amusing and anything is better than Greg (we read the Wimpy Kid books prior to this). The series skews young but it's nicely handled and he likes reading them himself outside of the bedtime schedule so that's a win.

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kev, Lizzie and Hotdog are going on a camping trip while on Rainbow Island to see is Kev wants to live there with his mum a doctor. There are ups and downs during the 3 days but the friends stick together and use the skills they've learned from the trip when they get lost on the hike to town.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Hotdog and the gang go to Rainbow Island to visit Kev's mum who works as a doctor there, she suggests they go on a camping trip to learn more about life on the island. I enjoyed the illustration of Kev picking up the peanuts. 😂

[Samantha & Luke · Rating 5 out of 5]

It has a happy ending.
Luke, 6