Bright and colourful illustrations. Nice relatable brother, sisters relationship. Overall, it is a good story.
Bright and colourful illustrations. Begins as a gentle tale about three friends who live by the sea. The main character, Laura loves animals so when her dog finds a dog near some rocks on the beach. She takes it to the horse doctor in the woods and promises to come back to help look after it. The writing creates an idyllic scene by the beach with islands and sand and the woods have a feeling of being a bit mysterious. There is good description of the pretty local village The three friends play in the sea with some seals and we learn that animals seem to trust Laura. There is an element of magic in the tale.
The story continues to move at a gentle pace into chapter three with no real action until chapter four when Laura, her brother Johnny and their friends are out swimming and some of them are stung by jellyfish. Then a few chapters later, Laura and Johnny take on some badger baiters. Nice relatable brother, sisters relationship.
There are quite a few minor characters which makes it a little confusing for a short story, they don't always seem relevant to introduce them as it doesn't always bring anything extra to the story. If I had read the other stories in the series, it may make more sense, but as a stand alone for this review, in 48 pages, it slows the flow a bit.
Overall, it is a good story, but it moves around too much for me, with locations and characters. It may also be a bit complicated for younger readers, though I would imagine it being aimed at seven to ten year olds. If perhaps, the story focused on a fewer events and characters, it would make it more engaging and easier to follow.