Rover Adventures Books in Order

The Rover Adventures books follow Rover, a talking dog with a talent for mischief, and the Mack family who live next door to him in Dublin. The stories are loud, silly and full of bodily-fluid jokes, but there is always a soft spot for kids who are not being listened to.

In The Giggler Treatment, readers meet the Gigglers, small furry creatures who punish adults that are unfair to children by planting dog poo under their shoes. Rover sells them the poo, but when the Gigglers target kind, distracted Mr Mack by mistake, his children and Rover race to stop a very smelly disaster.

Rover Saves Christmas sends the family and Rover off on a global dash when Rudolph comes down with the flu on Christmas Eve. Santa needs a substitute, so Rover is hitched to the sleigh, and the Mack kids end up helping to deliver presents before the sun comes up.

In The Meanwhile Adventures, Mr Mack’s latest invention gets him arrested when bank staff mistake his harmless saw for a gun. While he sits in jail, the family spin off into their own storylines, including a secret round-the-world voyage and even a plot by Dublin slugs to take over everything.

Rover and the Big Fat Baby brings the Gigglers back when a giant baby falls out of Granny Mack’s backpack and vanishes into the city. Rover and his neat-freak nephew Messi try to track her down, even as the Gigglers start to run out of ammunition for their poo-based justice.

The tone is chatty and very direct, with Doyle often breaking the fourth wall to talk straight to the reader. That makes these books great for reading aloud, especially with children who enjoy ridiculous humour but also like stories where grown-ups eventually try to do the right thing.

Although the adventures stand alone, reading them in order lets kids see the Mack family grow braver and slightly more responsible, while Rover stays gloriously the same, a dog who knows exactly how much power there is in a well-timed joke.