The Brockets Get a Dog: Beyond the Stars

Beyond the Stars would not exist without the superstar writers and illustrators behind this collection – all of whom said yes to contributing without hesitation. Yes, Chris Haughton, it was a little like “herding cats” at times, but very cool and lovely cats! Thanks to the team: Roddy Doyle and Steve Simpson; Derek Landy and Alan Clarke; John Boyne and Paul Howard; Judi Curtin and Chris Judge; Eoin Colfer and Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick; Marita Conlon-McKenna and P. J. Lynch; Michael Scott and Chris Haughton; Gordon Snell and Michael Emberley; Celine Kiernan and Tatyana Feeney; Oisín McGann; Siobhán Parkinson and Olwyn Whelan; and finally, Niamh Sharkey, who illustrated our competition-winner Emma Brade’s story. Mammoth thanks also to Ruth Alltimes, Mary Byrne and their supernova team at HarperCollins Children’s Books for their hard work and support of what is a highly unusual project. And to my wonderful agent, Philippa Milnes-Smith, for her hand-holding and enthusiasm for the book.

As the Irish writer Oscar Wilde once said: “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” With your wonderful work for this collection, you have all reached for the stars, and ‘Beyond’. Together, we have created a glowing universe of space dogs and ice queens, invisible cats and warriors brave.

Now it is up to you, dear reader, to continue the journey. Read the magical stories within these pages and let your imagination fly.

Sarah Webb

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John Boyne is the author of several novels for adults and younger readers, including the international bestseller and award-winning The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, which was later adapted into a major motion picture. ‘The Brockets Get a Dog’ was inspired by his bestselling The Terrible Thing that Happened to Barnaby Brocket. John Boyne’s novels are published in forty-seven languages. John lives in Dublin.

Paul Howard’s charming illustrations have won him acclaim from both the publishing industry and children across the world. He illustrated Allan Ahlberg’s The Bravest Ever Bear, which won the Blue Peter Book Award. Paul lives in Belfast with his wife, their three children and his ‘hairy baby’, Tiggy, a Jack Russell terrier who is very fond of sticks.

Despite the terrible weather – wind that blew grown men along the streets, rain that de-permed perms – animals came and went throughout the day at Dr Napangardi’s veterinary surgery, and Abigail Crumb, a disorganised girl at the best of times, found it hard to keep track of them all. She worked there after school every Tuesday, Thursday and all day Saturday, but no matter how hard she tried, she always made mistakes.

When the Mannerings from Lavender Bay came by to pick up their miniature schnauzer, Abigail presented them instead with a walrus cub, who’d been brought in to have his tusks realigned.

When the McDougalls from McDougall Street showed up to collect their Siamese cats, they were not happy to be handed a container filled with gerbils and a large bag of mixed seeds and dry vegetables that Abigail, in a moment of generosity, had decided to offer them at no extra cost.

The customers complained and Abigail got into trouble almost every day.

On this particular afternoon, as she battled her way through the storm to work, she knew that she was going to get a telling-off for forgetting to lock a chimpanzee’s cage earlier in the week – she had spent most of the next day cleaning bananas off the walls – and started to work on her defence.

I’m punctual