Smasher

by Dick King-Smith, Richard Bernal (Illustrator)

Dick King-Smith brings his signature wit and charm to the Stepping Stone line with a lovable new puppy who's sure to capture readers' hearts. Smasher is always getting into trouble, whether it's chasing chickens, chewing up Mrs. Buzzard's slippers, or breaking all her china. Now she wants to get rid of him. Can Farmer Buzzard find a way to save him? Or is Smasher in the doghouse...for good?  

Genres: Childrens, Fiction, Dogs, Animals

80 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Dick King-Smith was born and raised in Gloucestershire, England, surrounded by pet animals. After twenty years as a farmer, he turned to teaching and then to writing children's books.

Dick writes mostly about animals: farmyard fantasy, as he likes to call it, often about pigs, his special favorites. He enjoys writing for children, meeting the children who read his books, and knowing that they get enjoyment from what he does.

Among his well-loved books is Babe, The Gallant Pig, which was recently made into a major motion picture, and was nominated for an Academy Award.

Dick lived with his wife in a small 17th-century cottage, about three miles from the house where he was born.

Reviews

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Agreed with my original thoughts. It's fine, but there's a reason the "praise for" section on the back is for King-Smith's most well-known book, Babe.

First review
This one's a quick and cute read. I think if I had been writing it, I would've kept to the humans' perspective; including the dogs' conversations and thoughts made it seem quite like Smasher wasn't such a good dog deep down, intending to chase chickens while his mother wasn't around, etc. However, that's easily overlooked. The rest is just a cute little romp about a too-big puppy.

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one's a quick and cute read. I think if I had been writing it, I would've kept to the humans' perspective; including the dogs' conversations and thoughts made it seem quite like Smasher wasn't such a good dog deep down, intending to chase chickens while his mother wasn't around, etc. However, that's easily overlooked. The rest is just a cute little romp about a too-big puppy.

[Roger Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story of a misfit puppy would be a fun read for early readers.

[Nikki in Niagara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought I hadn't read this before but not too many pages in I realized I had. My eldest son was quite fond of this author so we've had a lot of his books in the house and I still have some left, but my youngest never took to them. Smasher is a cute book. A bit of a take on the ugly duckling story. This is an easy chapter book as well. Probably good for average 3rd grade readers. This is a realistic story of a "throwback" puppy of a litter; he's not weak or a runt. In fact he's the biggest and strongest, but looks nothing like the mother or other pups and is, in the farmer's opinion down right ugly. Smasher truly owns his name by causing all sorts of trouble from chasing chickens and sheep to entering the house, stealing a steak, whizzing in the living room and causing major havoc. Mrs. Farmer has enough and orders the pup begone. In this heart-warming story the kind-hearted farmer has grown too fond of "Smasher" to get rid of him so instead secretly spends three months training him. On his first day back to the farm Smasher surprises everyone with a skill no one knew he had. Now he can earn his bread and board as a house dog! I'm not familiar with the illustrator but Richard Bernal has adorable old-fashioned drawings that let the story remain ageless. Though the text does tell us their are "video recording machines".

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

A tiny bit cliched, but a 2nd-grader is not going to notice that. They're just going to laugh and laugh, and then get anxious, and then breathe a sigh of relief. Not the author's best, but worth reading for those of us who are fans.

[superawesomekt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've enjoyed other books by King-Smith better.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Humorous story about an ugly puppy and his softhearted master.

[Chazzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book by prolific children’s book author, Dick King-Smith, it is an enjoyable and quick read for kids of all ages, even the adult ones.

Farmer Buzzard’s dog, Kay, has a new litter of four pups. Three are miniatures of her, but the fourth is a large lump of a pup. What is the farmer to do?

The other three pups found homes quickly, but Farmer Buzzard kept Smasher back. The farmer has a soft spot for the ugly pup.

The other three were natural herders like their Mom, but Smasher wasn’t. He chased after the chickens, was clumsy knocking things over, chewing slippers and was not well behaved at all in the house. Mrs. Buzzard finally told Farmer Buzzard the pup had to go!

King-Smith’s love of animals can be found in his many books, and this is no exception. Farmer Buzzard relocates the pup in a part of the farm Mrs. Buzzard doesn’t go and proceeds to train Smasher. The results of this hard work come into play one night and Smasher earns the love of Mrs. Buzzard.

[John Naylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

This has an interesting contrast of tone. It is for the most part a fun story of a large puppy but with some dark undertones in places. This does make it hard to recommend as I feel that the target audience that love cute animal stories might be traumatised by some of the content.
I admit I don't quite so the appeal of King-Smith's works having read a few of them recently. Obviously others do which made him successful but I can think of a lot of authors I would recommend over him.

[Bec · Rating 4 out of 5]

True to his usual form.

[Zoe Spence · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like all the books that I have read from Dick King-Smith another great lovely story to read.

[Albie Seymour · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

[Mr. Tedrow]

Kaitlyn
my book is about a dog named smasher. he is always getting in trouble. but its not his fault!how was
he supposed to know it was wrong to chase those chickens? and nobody said he couldn't chew up
Mrs.Buzzard's slippers. Or break all her china. Or wet on her living room furniture. now Mrs. Buzzard wants to get rid of smasher. can farmer Buzzard find a way to save him? or will he be banished from the farm...forever? I really enjoyed this book.

[Donna Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

cute story bout a bull mastiff pup born to a collie dog and growing up on a farm where he chased chickens, destroyed many thing inside the house and generally caused trouble, and how, a soft hearted farmer couldn't bear to part with him and decided to train this dog up right and make Smasher a truly smashing dog.

[Arath · Rating 5 out of 5]

REALLY GOOD BOOK FAST READ

[Twyla · Rating 5 out of 5]

my favorite part was when smasher protected the house from robers.the worst part was when the robbers came.the worst character was the robbers. my favorite character was smasher

[Ruby · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Smasher was my favorite character and I liked the end." (Editor's note: this book was lame!)

[Raegan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute,short, read.

[Kristy McRae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute and funny! I always enjoy King-Smith's animal-related books. My daughter loved it, too.

[Meghan L · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read with Leo 2014

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

The dog is beautiful not ugly

[Mazzou B · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought it cute.