I found this somewhat-battered softcover at the Used Book Superstore. I'd gone looking for it after seeing its TV Tropes page; seems the book's a bit of a "take that" to the frequency with which books-for-young-people tend to kill off the beloved pet {wry grin}...

While I did get impatient with the bluntly-honest main character, Wallace Wallace, who doesn't seem to be able to see the difference between writing a critical book review and simply stating "this is the most boring book ever", I did have to agree with his points: it's clear from other characters' comments that the book's a badly-dated childhood favorite of the teacher's, and the teacher is so upset at Wallace's attitude that he doesn't bother to sit down and talk with him - he simply sends him to detention until he writes a proper review. [Whether a well-written negative review would have saved Wallace at this point isn't clear, but as he doesn't bother to write one we'll never know! Later on, someone actually does try to point out to Wallace that his "this book sucks" paper isn't any kind of valid review or critique, but by then it's far too late.]

Things escalate pretty quickly, as Wallace is stubborn - and he's also a school favorite, what with having accidentally won the big football game last season, so being off the team while in detention is a huge deal. (Note: he's well aware that he isn't the great football player that the media and most of the school seem to think, and he knows that his teammates, who ARE better players, know this too, but his reputation's good for the team so everyone's pressuring him to just write the dratted book report already and come back.)

Once the standoff becomes general knowledge, things get even more interesting. The teacher's putting on a school play based on the book (Old Shep, an homage/parody of every Newbery-medal/dog-dies-in-the-end children's book ever {wry grin}; Wallace pointed out early on that the "heartbreaking surprise ending" was no surprise: "Go to the library and pick out a book with an award sticker and a dog on the cover. Trust me, that dog is going down."), and our hero - not being able to play football - winds up hanging around the stage, and then he starts making suggestions to liven up the story...

I don't want to get into too much detail here, but hilarity ensues in spades, with some really charming character interactions, annoying journalistic license by the school paper's reporter, mysterious vandalism and false accusations, and an increasingly off-script school play. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and only wish it had been around when I was in school, wondering tearfully at the end of many, many animal-themed books why the authors insisted on putting the poor beasts through so much tragedy!

Oh, and the book's written from the viewpoints of several different characters, so we get to see Wallace's actions from other eyes than just his own. Even his increasingly-beleaguered teacher gets his say, and it all adds to the fun. Recommended!

Since a school play is a large part of the plot, I plan to leave this book near the Court St. theater at around 3 or so. Hope the finder enjoys it!

*** Released for the 2012 Spook-tacular Halloween release challenge, for the word "dead" in the title. ***

*** Released for the 2012 You're Such an Animal" release challenge, for the "dog" in the title. ***

*** Released for the 2012 TICK-TOCK Challenge, for the embedded "AD" in the title. ***