Changes

|title=When Mr Dog Bites

|author=Brian Conaghan

|reviewer=Jill Murphy

|genre=Teens

|rating=5

|buy=Yes

|pages=384

|publisher=Bloomsbury

|date=January 2014

|isbn=140884253X

|video=LZITedqJS0Y

}}

Dylan Mint is 16. He thinks about his dad, away on a Special Forces secret mission. He also thinks about football, music, girls, sex - or the lack of it - and all the other things teenage boys think about. So far, so ''normal''. But Dylan also has Tourette's Syndrome and his life is a constant battle to keep it at bay - the ticks, the swearing, the growling and barking of Mr Dog, who always manages to escape when Dylan gets stressed.

I loved Dylan. I loved his mum. I loved his best bud Amir. I loved Michelle Stroppy Malloy. I loved Dylan's incredibly honest and incredibly politically incorrect use of language ''outside'' of his Tourette's - it's meaning, not words, that do the hurting. Coming-of-age stories are always great to read - funny and heartwarming - and, shock, horror, people with Tourette's come of age, too. I won't forget Dylan Mint in a very long time. The temptation to swear in CAPITAL LETTERS here is great, but I'll leave that to the summary on your right.

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