The Incredibly Dead Pets of Rex Dexter (The Incredibly Dead Pets of Rex Dexter, #1)

Rex Dexter is itching to have a dog. He was practically born to have one. His name is Rex, for crying out loud. It's a dog's name. Any pooch is preferable, but a chocolate Labrador is the pinnacle. The best of the best. The dream of all dreams.

When Rex's B-Day for Me-Day finally arrives, his parents surprise him with a box. A box with holes. A box with holes and adorable scratchy noises coming from inside. Could it be? Yes! It has to be! A . . . a . . .

Chicken?

Pet poultry?

How clucky.

One hour and fourteen minutes later, the chicken is dead (by a steamroller), Rex is cursed (by the Grim Reaper), and wild animals are haunting Rex's room (hounding him for answers). Even his best friend Darvish is not going to believe this, and that kid believes everything.

Rex's uninvited ghostly guests are a chatty, messy bunch. And they need Rex to solve their mysterious deadly departures from the Middling Falls Zoo before it happens again.

But how?

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Perfect for readers who want:

• A laugh-out-loud humor book.
• A hilarious take on the quest for a dog.
• Fun mystery involving ghost animals.
• A ludicrous story line that’s over-the-top silly.
• Quirky ghost animals.

I reeeeally wanted the ARC of this and it didn’t happen, so I convinced my library to buy it, since we all agreed it sounded wonderful. So of course I had to snatch it off the shelf when it came in.

The Incredibly Dead Pets of Rex Dexter chronicles the totally relatable struggle of a little boy to convince his parents to let him have a dog. Except said quest goes horribly, hilariously awry and Rex finds himself haunted by dead animals.

I absolutely loved this book. I laughed so dang hard! So much so that a colleague’s daughter saw me reading it and decided she wanted to read it, too. If you’re looking for a feel-good book with a strong positive message for kids … this isn’t it. This is just a romping good time, plain and simple, meant to be highly relatable and ridiculously funny.

Rex Dexter is an incredibly relatable protagonist, no matter how old you are.

I know that at this point, I’m really just a couple years shy of the Cryptkeeper (or it sure feels that way some days), but I remember well the struggles of trying to convince my parents that we definitely need … a cat. Sorry, I know it’s not a dog, but I had dogs. I wanted that ever-elusive kitty.

The basis of Rex’s plight is a super common, relatable one, which makes it all the funnier when it goes slightly awry!

Rex means well, for the most part. He just has a habit of … killing pets. We all know people like that. It’s not really his fault. Well, not always. I mean, who would’ve predicted his pet chicken would’ve escaped and been flattened?

I’m also 95% sure Rex has ADHD, even though it’s never named in the book. I mean, like recognizes like, right? The way his mind works and the fact that his “random” outbursts from everyone else’s perspective make perfect sense for the way his brain is working is so relatable to me as someone with ADHD. I’ll admit, I can see how Rex Dexter can be a bit obnoxious at times, but … well, that’s real life, folks. It happens. Sorry, not sorry.

Darvish is the perfect partner-in-crime for Rex, as a more logical counterpart to his off-the-cuff schemes.

I absolutely loved the way Darvish and Rex interacted. Poor Darvish gets pulled into Rex’s hare-brained schemes, which he goes along with because he’s a good friend. Also, because Rex is hecka interesting and fun, let’s be honest. I may have Rex’s impulsivity and randomness, but I am firmly a member of the Scaredy Cats along with Darvish. It’s not a particularly exclusive group. You could even join if you wanted to!

Darvish added some much-needed grounding to Rex’s more impulsive character. Plus, it’s just fun when one character can see ghost animals and one can’t.

Honestly, Darvish is a fantastic character in his own right, and I hope the sequel leads to us learning more about him! I want more insight into how Rex and Darvish became friends and more about Darvish and his family, etc.

This book is just ridiculously funny and had me laughing out loud while reading it.

It’s the sort of hilarious experience that you just want to share (even though my husband decidedly did not want me to share, because I kept interrupting his gaming, even though he laughed at each excerpt I showed him. *rolls eyes* Men.)

I picked this up because it sounded super funny and I wanted a break from the darker books I’ve been reading, and gosh was it such a great experience just being able to laugh at something! There’s narrative humor, situational humor, and all sorts of silly banter.

This book is just plain fun, and if you go in expecting that, you’ll probably have a good time.

I’ve seen some reviews complaining about how this book doesn’t teach very good morals or lessons, and I’d agree with that. Rex Dexter is very self-centered and living in the bubble of his own life in a way that can be true of children that age. Animals are being killed, and it’s dealt with in a very offhand, cavalier way. So no, don’t expect long moral lessons or a bunch of philosophizing from Rex Dexter.

The humor is the main focus of this book, and even though there isn’t a large overarching plot, I loved the characters and the little mystery of who’s killing the animals.

If I’m honest, I’d forever read books about these characters even without much of anything going on plot-wise just because they were so stinking funny. I absolutely loved the way they played off each other and the random conversations they had. Sometimes you just want a book full of quirky characters that’ll make you laugh so hard you snort, and this book for sure delivers on that.

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