McTavish on the Move
With illustrations by Grace Easton & David Shephard
Pa has just landed a new job, and it's put an unusual spring in his step. But a new job means a new house in a new part of town, and now the Peacheys are getting ready to move. Amidst the chaos, nobody seems to notice that Betty is struggling with this big change. Nobody, that is, except McTavish.
Will the canny family dog be able to put a smile back on Betty's face?
Julia Eccleshare, Pick of the Month November 2019
Full of Meg Rosoff’s delightful wit and evident affection for dogs, the is a great return for McTavish the big-hearted rescue dog who is already well-known for the good care he takes of all those around him. This time it is Betty who needs help. When Pa Peachey gets a new job the whole family is upheaved. Everyone is excited about it except for Betty. Not only has she got to move house but she also has to say goodbye to her old friends and go to a new school. Betty does not want to be the new girl: she is terrified. Luckily, McTavish thinks of the best possible way to turn her arrival at a new school into a triumph rather than a catastrophe.
— LoveReading4Kids
“A work of gentle genius ... a witty, stylish, often hilarious delight”
— Literary Review
“Wry, real and big-hearted”
— The Bookseller
Nicolette Jones’s The Sunday Times Children’s book of the week: McTavish on the Move by Meg Rosoff
This is the fourth of Rosoff’s stories about McTavish, a clever shelter dog who takes care of the Peacheys, the family that has taken him in. It uses “super-readable” language and type, yet is entertaining for any age. Rosoff simplifies without being bland, and the series is funny and observant about its characters (including philosophy-obsessed Ava, and Ollie who longs for a girlfriend).
— The Sunday Times
“Warm family drama full of wry humour and a really excellent dog”
— The Bookseller
“A gentle and knowing humour and an affectionate portrait of a modern family with different interests ... The gorgeous illustrations by Grace Easton also give the text a lovely dash of whimsy”
— Booktrust
“McTavish is an irresistible character, his gentle guiding of the Peacheys is very funny indeed, and this beautiful story will leave all readers smiling”
— Andrea Reece, LoveReading4Kinds
“Meg Rosoff is not only a superb writer but she's also a well-known dog lover and in McTavish she's created an endearing character that allows us to view the foibles of his human companions in a gently satirical way”
— LetterPress
“Common sense has rarely been so charmingly conveyed to readers of seven up”
— The New Statesman
Extract
1
A Nice Day at Work
At 6pm, precisely, Pa Peachey stepped in through the front door singing a happy little tune.
“La la la,” he sang. “Tra la, tra lee, oh happy me!”
Ollie and Ava sat at the kitchen table doing homework. They stared at each other in alarm.
The Peachey family were used to Pa Peachey returning from work cranky and crabby and cross. They were used to him mumbling and grumbling and muttering. But singing and smiling? Humming a happy tune?
“La di da, la di dee, oh what joy it is to be!” Pa Peachey sang.
Betty stared at her father with concern.
“Are you feeling quite well, Pa?” she asked.
“Quite well?” Pa Peachey answered. “Why, I am more than quite well! I am full of the joys of spring!”
Ava’s eyes snapped open with horror.
Pa Peachey began to sing once more. “If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands,” he sang happily.
Nobody clapped. Ava and Ollie clutched each other in fear.
On his bed under the stairs, McTavish tilted his head, amazed. Never since he had joined the Peachey family had Pa Peachy come home from work in a good mood.
“Hello, darling,” Ma Peachey said cautiously. “Are you feeling quite well?”
“Quite well? Quite well? Why does everyone keep asking if I’m feeling quite well? As a matter of fact I am feeling superb. I am feeling devil-may-care and happy-go-lucky. I’m feeling joyous, optimistic and downright delighted. Why, I am in such high spirits, I might dance a delighted little dance!”
Ava covered her face with her hands.
“Perhaps you should sit down, Pa,” Betty said, her brow furrowed.
“Perhaps we should call a doctor,” Ollie said. “Or the police.”
McTavish stood up. He padded across the room and sat at Pa Peachey’s feet. He looked up at Pa Peachey’s face. He certainly looked like the same person. But perhaps Pa Peachey has been hit by a bus. Perhaps a blow to the head had given him amnesia. Perhaps Pa Peachey had forgotten his reputation as the world’s crankiest man.
“Did you have a nice day at work?” Ma Peachey asked, in a worried voice.
“As a matter of fact I did,” said Pa Peachey, smiling broadly.
The Peachey children froze. They stared at each other in disbelief.
“You had a nice day at work?” Ollie gaped. “Are you sure?”
“Really?” said Ava. “You had a nice day”—she pronounced the words carefully— “at work?”
“Indeed I did,” Pa Peachey said with a huge grin.
The Peachey children shuddered.
McTavish pricked his ears, alert to this strange turn of events.
For a long time, nobody said a word. The silence was so silent, you could hear a pin stand still.
After a few minutes, Pa Peachey became impatient.
“Doesn’t anyone want to know why I had a nice day at work?”
The Peachey children did not want to know.
Pa Peachey had never had a nice day at work. Not ever. Pa Peachey hated work, almost as much as he hated weekends and holidays. He was crabby on Mondays and irritable on Tuesdays. On Wednesdays he was glum. On Thursdays and Fridays he was just plain cross. Pa Peachey complained about beautiful summer days. He moaned about Christmas. He hated weddings and birthdays. In short, Pa Peachey was not known for his cheerful disposition.
The Peachey children did not mind Pa Peachey’s personality. They were used to it.
What they did not like was unexpected change.
“If you are going to be happy all of a sudden,” said Ollie, “I wish you would give us time to prepare.”
“If you are planning to be jolly,” Ava said, “I’d appreciate at least a week’s notice.”
“Are you running a fever, Pa?” Betty asked with concern.
“What has it come to,” moaned Pa Peachey, “when a man with a new job isn’t allowed to be cheerful in his own home.”
“A new job!” exclaimed Betty.
“Tell us,” said Ma Peachey.
“Well,” said Pa Peachey, “If you must know”—
“We must!” shouted all the Peacheys at once.
“I have been offered a new job.”
“A new job!” Betty leaped up and hugged her father. “That is wonderful news!”
Ma Peachey frowned. “What sort of new job?”
The Peacheys fell silent once more. They tilted their heads. They squinted their eyes. They concentrated hard.
The fact was, that not one of them understood what Pa Peachey did at work, despite his many attempts to explain.
“It has to do with….” Pa Peachey began.
The Peacheys leaned in, attentive.
Pa Peachey looked at the ceiling. “It’s rather like….”
The Peacheys all frowned with concentration.
Pa Peachey looked down at the floor. “It’s very much concerned with…”
Nobody even dared blink.
Pa Peachey closed his eyes for a long moment. At last he opened them and sighed.
“Never mind,” he said. “The new job is rather like the old job -- only more so.”
All the Peacheys nodded wisely.
Pa Peachey hesitated for a moment and then went on. “Perhaps I should also mention -- not that it is at all important, influential or significant in any way, not that any of you will even be terribly interested”—
“Yes?” Betty said with a slight narrowing of the eyes.
“That the new job will be…”
“Yes?” Ava said with the beginnings of a frown.
“The new job will be?” said Ollie with a suspicious glare.
“The new job will be,” Pa Peachey said, “in a different place.”
“A different place?” Ollie gasped. “What does that mean? Albania? Naples? Shanghai? Peru?”
Ava frowned. “When you say ‘a different place,’ what sort of different place do you have in mind?”
Betty looked puzzled. “Does ‘a different place’ mean ‘a place’ that is ‘different’?”
From his bed under the stairs, McTavish paid close attention. As a rescue dog, he knew it was his sworn duty to rescue the Peachey family from danger and harm. He had rescued them many times in the past. The challenge, he found, was to keep them rescued, for the Peacheys had a way of descending into chaos the moment he turned his back.
McTavish did not remember turning his back lately, but he nonetheless had a feeling that chaos might be lurking just around the corner.
