The Great Fire Dogs
Puffin Books
PUFFIN BOOKS

UK | USA | Canada | Ireland | Australia

India | New Zealand | South Africa

Puffin Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.

www.penguin.co.uk
www.puffin.co.uk
www.ladybird.co.uk

Penguin Random House UK

First published 2016

Text copyright © Megan Rix, 2016

Map and illustrations copyright © David Atkinson, 2016

Chapter-heading illustrations copyright © Penguin Books, 2016

The moral right of the author and illustrator has been asserted

Cover Illustration by Richard Jones

ISBN: 978–0–141–36532–9

Contents

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 14

AFTERWORD

DOG TREAT RECIPES

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

READ MORE

MEGAN RIX is the recent winner of the Stockton and Shrewsbury Children’s Book Awards, and has been shortlisted for numerous other children’s book awards. She lives with her husband by a river in England. When she’s not writing, she can be found walking her gorgeous dogs, Bella and Freya, who are often in the river.

Puffin Books

Your story starts here …

Do you love books and discovering new stories?
Then puffin.co.uk is the place for you …
• Thrilling adventures, fantastic fiction and laugh-out-loud fun
• Brilliant videos featuring your favourite authors and characters
• Exciting competitions, news, activities, the Puffin blog and SO MUCH more …
puffin.co.uk

It all started with a scarecrow …

image
Puffin is over seventy years old. Sounds ancient, doesn’t it? But Puffin has never been so lively. We’re always on the lookout for the next big idea, which is how it began all those years ago.
image
Penguin Books was a big idea from the mind of a man called Allen Lane, who in 1935 invented the quality paperback and changed the world. And from great Penguins, great Puffins grew, changing the face of children’s books forever.
image
The first four Puffin Picture Books were hatched in 1940 and the first Puffin story book featured a man with broomstick arms called Worzel Gummidge. In 1967 Kaye Webb, Puffin Editor, started the Puffin Club, promising to ‘make children into readers’. She kept that promise and over 200,000 children became devoted Puffineers through their quarterly instalments of Puffin Post.
image
Many years from now, we hope you’ll look back and remember Puffin with a smile. No matter what your age or what you’re into, there’s a Puffin for everyone. The possibilities are endless, but one thing is for sure: whether it’s a picture book or a paperback, a sticker book or a hardback, if it’s got that little Puffin on it – it’s bound to be good.
image
www.puffin.co.uk

PUFFIN BOOKS

THE GREAT FIRE DOGS

Praise for Megan Rix

‘If you love Michael Morpurgo, you’ll enjoy this’ Sunday Express

‘A moving tale told with warmth, kindliness and lashings of good sense that lovers of Dick King-Smith will especially appreciate’ The Times

‘Every now and then a writer comes along with a unique way of storytelling. Meet Megan Rix … her novels are deeply moving and will strike a chord with animal lovers’ LoveReading

‘A perfect story for animal lovers and lovers of adventure stories’ Travelling Book Company

Praise from Megan’s young readers

‘I never liked reading until one day I was in Waterstones and I picked up some books. One was … called The Bomber Dog. I loved it so much I couldn’t put it down’ Luke, 8

‘I found this book amazing’ Nayah, 11

‘EPIC BOOK!!!’ Jessica, 13

‘One of my favourite books’ Chloe, Year 8

Books by Megan Rix

THE BOMBER DOG

ECHO COME HOME

THE GREAT ESCAPE

THE GREAT FIRE DOGS

THE HERO PUP

THE RUNAWAYS

A SOLDIER’S FRIEND

THE VICTORY DOGS

www.meganrix.com

A key of fire ran all along the shore,

And lighten’d all the river with a blaze;

The waken’d tides began again to roar,

And wondering fish in shining waters gaze.

– John Dryden

image
image