Anyone Seen a Lost Dog? (Dogger - Shirley Hughes)

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Product:	Dogger - Shirley Hughes
Date:	06.11.07 (163 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: great book

Disadvantages: pictures slightly dated

Dogger by Shirley Hughes

After another recent trip to the library I found this book that look ever so familiar to me. I didn't think to much about it at the time but when I got home and began to read it to Jack I realised that this was one of the many books that I had read or indeed owned when I was a lot younger.

The Bodley Head Children's Books first published the book way back in 1977. The RRP on the back of the book is £7.99pence but this copy is a hardback one. I am glad I have borrowed it from the library because I do think that this price is a little steep for a children's book.


The illustrations in the book look like water coloured sketches and really don't look very modern and perhaps give away the fact that this book dotes back to the seventies. However the pictures are still nicely drawn and Jack did enjoy looking at them because of all the different colours and the fact that there were pictures on every page.

The story is about a young boy named Dave whom had a very special toy dog called Dogger. He took Dogger everywhere he went and really did love that little stuffed animal. Even though he was loosing fur in places and his ears were all wonky Dogger was Dave's pride and joy. Dave's mum would wash Dogger from time to time when she thought that he was getting far too dirty for Dave to be cuddling and after washing him she would hang him up on the washing line by his ear.


On a trip to collect Dave's older sister from school one day Dogger gets lost but because Dave's mum has bought them all ice cream this goes unnoticed till Dave gets home. Dave's mum and dad look everywhere possible to look for Dogger, they even resort to looking in the shed at the bottom of the garden, but he was no where to be found.

Dogger's disappearance really upsets Dave and he goes to bed very sad indeed. The next day however was the school summer fate and Dave's family all attend and take part in some of the wonderful activities including the egg and spoon race. Bella Dave's older sister won the first prize on a raffle and the prize happened to be a huge yellow teddy bear that was almost as big as Dave. The fact that Bella was winning everything and because of her new large teddy bear Dave was upset again and thinking that he didn't like the new teddy and at that moment he didn't like Bella too much either. Dave missed Dogger.


On one of the stalls Dave comes across one selling all different sorts of toys such as knitted ducks, cars and baby dolls. Out of the corner of his eye Dave's spots a familiar face…Dogger! He was hiding right at the back with a sticker on him, which read 5p. Dave wanted to tell the stall owner that Dogger was his and there had been some terrible mistake but the stall was far too busy and noisy for the stall owner to take any notice or even hear Dave's pleas.

Dave hurried off to find his mum and dad and get them to help explain to the stall owner that Dogger belonged to him. Instead of finding his mum and dad in the busy crowd of people Dave eventually found Bella and after Dave had explained all about Dogger on the toy stall both he and Bella ran back to the stall to try to rescue Dogger. On the way there they saw exactly what Dave didn't want to see and that was another child holding on to Dogger and walking away from the stall. Dave was in tears so Bella tried to catch up with the little girl and when she did she explained to her all about Dogger being Dave's toy and asked if they could buy Dogger back off her./ The little girl was having none of it and told them that she had bought Dogger far and square and she tightened her grip on Dogger. By this time Dave was really upset and this made the little girl, now the proud owner of Dogger, upset too. Suddenly the little girl noticed Bella huge yellow teddy bear and stopped crying. Bella saw the look in the little girls eyes and right then and there offered to swap the huge teddy bear for the old and slightly tatty Dogger.


Of course the girl excepted right away and trotted off happily with the huge oversized teddy bear in her grip. Dave's grip meanwhile was tightly round Dogger and he was smiling from ear to ear. As well as hugging Dogger Dave ran to Bella and gave her a big hug too. Dave thanked Bella and when they got home asked her if she was going to miss her new Teddy but she said she didn't like it much anyway.
The end


This book is great and I would think a lot of other people have thought so too as it seems to have stood the test of time. The drawings are perhaps a little dated but still nice and eye catching. The characters are all nice and friendly giving the story a lovely warm fuzzy feel to it. There is of course a hidden moral as with most book such as this and I suppose that it is that it really is lovely to do something nice.

The story is good the drawings are reasonable and it really is a nice tale and a great children's book. I do think the price is a little expensive but I expect that you could get it a lot cheaper for buying on line. Or even do as I have done and rent the book from the library.



All in all an all round nice book for kids 5*s

Summary: a gr8 childrens book