Help me remember this book please!

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

I know you lovely book people like a challenge!

All I can remember is that one of the characters thinks he/she might have rabies, having been bit by a dog and his/her friend/brother/sister cuts (I think) the wound and they try to hide it from boy/girl's parents. It turns out to be a false alarm.

I thought it might be Stephen King, then I thought it might be one of the Little Women series, but googling hasn't helped me, and it's really bugging me!

Anyone?

Could it be one of Geoffrey Trease's 'Bannermere' books?

Totally not Stephen King!!

But one of the boys is bitten by a dog and tries to burn the wound with a poker.

I think it is the last in the Little Women series - Jo's Boys - where Jo's elder son gets bitten because her younger son was teasing a dog. The person who cauterises the wound is Nan who has trained as a doctor.

Thank you both. YES - Little Women, I KNEW IT. Thank you so much - I clearly need a re-read!

I thought it might be Stephen King, then I thought it might be one of the Little Women series

Is it just me that finds this sentence both hilarious and yet absolutely accurate about remembering half forgotten books?

It very much sums up my main reading foci for the past 38 years or so! 😂