Woof - The Story of Dogger (Shirley Hughes in general)

Member Name: zoe_page_1

Product:	Shirley Hughes in general
Date:	16/07/03 (90 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cute, classic story , Lovely illustrations

Disadvantages: It's sad!

My mother likes to tell a story about reading Puss In Boots to me as a child. In it, there’s a part that goes something along the lines of “and he had no mummy and no daddy to look after him”. It was probably on the 500th reading of the story that, legend has it, I turned to her and said in a wavering voice “And no Kim?” – I’d been ok with the tale until this point by assuming that, just like me, he’d have a kind, caring big sister to look after him, so having no parents didn't really matter all that much. When I found out this wasn’t the case, I was quite perturbed. I start off by mentioning this because I think it’s kinda cute, but also because kind, caring big sisters are very important in this book.

Shirley Hughes is awesome. Dogger is a one off story, but she’s also written several series – the Alfie books are good, the Lucy and Tom ones great (especially the Christmas and Starting School stories). All the books are fun tales, beautifully told, and they come with lovely drawings too. The pictures are all done by her, and she also illustrated various other people’s works – most notably, the My Naughty Little Sister books. She’s won various awards for writing and drawing, including the Kate Greenaway Medal (1977) and the Dutch Silver Pencil Award (1980), both for Dogger.

The first thing you notice about the book is the huge quantity of illustrations. Over a double page spread, you’ll get maybe 2 sentences, with the rest of the space taken up by pictures. Lovely, cute, detailed pictures – the sort where they look like they could be photos because everything is so real, so in its place. You can spend as much time looking at and discussing the pictures as you can reading the book itself. The pictures are just as important as the words in a book like this.

Dogger is the tale of a little boy called Dave who lives somewhere in England wit
h his mum and dad, and big sister Bella. “Dogger” is his beloved toy dog, who acts as a sort of security blanket for him. Bella has a whole row of teddies on her bed – so many she can barely fit in herself – but Dave only wants Dogger. When the unthinkable happens, and Dogger goes missing, Dave is distraught.

The wonderful thing about this book is that it’s a story any child can relate to – and it teaches them to be extra careful with their most precious toys. And, through the gorgeous drawings, and the perfect text, they can get to know Dave and family, and feel his enormous loss when Dogger vanishes. I will confess to crying almost every time this was read to me as a child, even though after a few times I would know what was going to happen in the end. Even worse, this book was in our clubroom last summer, and as I read this to our kids the tears started welling up again. At age 19. Ahem.

It’s an “older” picture book, because though children of any age will enjoy it, it’s not until they’re nursery or primary school age that they begin to realize why the story is as touching as it is, and how important the sacrifice Bella made was. I read it to the entire group a number of times, and found the Cool Dudes (5-8 year olds) really enjoyed it. Surprisingly, even the Energize (9-12 year olds) would sit still and listen, and join in the discussion afterwards, which isn’t something they would do with most books in our reading corner.

Though the story isn’t a modern one – it was written in the 70s, and many aspects of the tale, for example the pre-schoolers being allowed to wander off on their own at the summer fair, would not take place in the world today – it’s a lovely book to read. The story is sweet, but is has a message. The drawings are “rough” and show the book’s age with old fashioned clothes and so on, but all this just adds
to the charm. Definitely one which should be in any child’s home library.

Various editions of the book are available, including normal paperback and "big book" publications - large enough to hold up as you read and allow a group of kids to see. An audio cassette is available, and you can also buy the book in Welsh. The American edition is almost identical, but some of the pictures have changes slightly. Buy from Amazon or any good bookshop.

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