With the plethora of dystopian fiction that has been overwhelming readers in recent years, this very amusing graphic novel is a welcome relief.  A hilarious spin on the whole genre, this is perfect for Middle School readers with a discerning sense of humour.

Two dogs, Apollo and Brownie, usually have no more drama in their days than their running dispute about who is on the couch and who is on the floor.  Until a day comes when unbeknownst to this pair, chaos descends on the world outside – the dawn of the apocalypse with everyone gone.

As dinner time draws nearer and there is no appearance of their humans, the dogs begin to fear that their owners might be ‘Gone for Good’ with the usual hysterical panic that most dogs seem to experience. But when dinner time comes and goes and the next day moves in with still no humans, the dogs realise that this time perhaps their panic was justified and reluctantly decide they must leave the house to find food.  Just this scene alone as the two dogs are baffled by how they will unlock the front door was enough to make me laugh aloud.

How will these two cope with survival in the unknown wider world? And when they are faced with the dog-eat-dog scene for those animals who have survived the disaster, things become even more fraught.

I predict this will have huge appeal to both boys and girls and that it will be the kind of book where the recommendations fly along by word of mouth.

Highly recommended for readers around 11 and up.