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DASHING DOG 2013
Written by Margaret Mahy Illustrated by Donovan Bixley Hardcover includes CD read by Margaret Mahy
240 x 250mm (portrait), 32 pages A delightful doggy tale by one of the world's best-loved children's writers, brought to vivid life with illustrations by Donovan Bixley.
REVIEWED BY BOB DOCHERTY I know Donovan Bixley would not like to think he has upstaged Mahy’s text but unwittingly he has and the result is an excellent picture book. The written and visual text work perfectly together to heighten the humour, the snobbery and the drama as Betty is saved by the once pampered pooch. The illustrations grabbed me on page one with the owner of the Pampered Poodle salon, brilliant moustache kisscurl and bedroom eyes. It is the detail of the array of birds , dogs and humans that witness the happenings that impressed me. Easy to read, great pictures and lots of humour. A sure hit for everybody.
REVIEWED BY SARAH JANE BARNETT Dear Margaret, I wish I’d been able to meet you while you were alive. I bet you had some good stories to tell, and could have taught me a thing or two about persistence and humour. I don’t know if you got to see the republication of your book before you died. You know the one, Dashing Dog, about the snobby family and their “curlicued” but chaotic dog that they parade down the beach. It comes with a CD of you reading the story. Maybe as my son gets older he’ll find that interesting, but at the moment he’s all about the book. “Dog! Dog!” he says and climbs into my lap. It’s currently his most loved book and mine too. I hope you had a hand in Bixley doing the re-illustrations. I have to say, they’re incredible. My favourite is the one of Dashing Dog stuck in the briar rose: the family concerned with their dog’s ruined coat, the sea behind, and baby Betty heading toward the jetty. My son’s favourite picture is when Dashing Dog leaps into the sea to save Betty (“Dog!”). I’ve tried to explain the moral of the story, about valuing people for how they act rather than how they look, but he’s only two so I should probably save the social and feminist critique for when he’s older.
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