Chef
In ‘Chef Shows Who’s Boss’ the reader looks at the world through the eyes of the bossy little dog Chef. Emma and her mother are merely providers of food and, very importantly for Chef, of love and attention. There are two more dachshunds at home, sleepy Puf and inquisitive Boogie. The three dogs and their antics are set down realistically and with a delightfully natural sense of humour, which puts everything into perspective. Illustrator Martijn van der Linden captures the moods and behaviour of the little dogs perfectly.
Vrancken’s writing is clear, sometimes even stark, but always effective.Griffel jury
Then one day another dog joins them, the beautiful, big and clever Herder. Chef is hugely jealous. In the end he understands that the blind girl Emma really does need the Alsatian, and Herder turns out to be a good playmate too.
Fun, accessible and believable, and, thanks to the surprising ending, meaningful tooBoekenleeuw jury
In ‘Chef Grits His Teeth’ the canine trio is deposited at kennels by Emma’s mother and the author focuses even more closely on the thoughts and actions of the dogs: how they deliberately mislead their owners, where they all leave their trails of scent, what a tick bite feels like to them and much, much more.
