Dear Hound - Softcover

Murphy, Jill

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141323450 ISBN 13: 9780141323459

Publisher: Puffin, 2010

Synopsis

Alfie the deerhound is a large grey puppy. He loves his boy Charlie, and cheese, and he's very good at digging holes. But poor Alfie has got lost and he's scared - of thunderstorms and being hungry and never seeing Charlie again . . . Meanwhile, Charlie doesn't know what to do - but one thing is for sure: he'll never stop looking for his dear hound. Can Alfie ever find his way back to Charlie - and his great big squashy beanbag in the kitchen? Written and illustrated by Jill Murphy, the creator of the much-loved Worst Witch series and picture book classics such as Peace at Last and The Large Family.

About this title

About the Author:

Jill Murphy was born in London in 1949. From a very early age she was drawing and writing stories, and was already putting books together (literally, with a stapler) by the time she was six. She went on to study at Chelsea, Croydon and Camberwell Schools of Art. Jill worked in a children's home for four years and as a nanny for a year, before becoming a freelance writer and illustrator. The Worst Witch stories are some of Puffin's most successful titles.

From School Library Journal:

Gr 2-4–Alfie, a huge deerhound puppy with expressive ears, gets lost in the heath after he escapes from his dog-sitter. As Charlie and his mother wander around town looking for their pet and hanging up posters, Alfie searches for them. For months, owners and dog just miss each other, outside of the local restaurant (with an accessible trash bin) and in the moors. The animal's fur becomes more and more unkempt, and his face is matted and smeared with grease and dirt from his frequent Dumpster meals, making him look less and less like the picture on the posters. By the book's end, Alfie has run into a couple of improbable comrades, two unlikely villains, and finally, his family. This chapter book will appeal to fans of animal stories who have moved beyond Arnold Lobel's "Frog and Toad" titles (HarperCollins) but aren't quite ready for the length and complexity of E. B. White's Stuart Little. Murphy's expressive black-and-white line spot drawings (sometimes three to a spread) and deerhound notes ("GARDENING: They are great hole-diggers. Once they've started a hole, they don't stop till Australia") heighten the characterizations and add detail to the settings.Lindsay Persohn, Crystal Lake Elementary, Lakeland, FL
© Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

About this edition

• Publisher: Puffin
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0141323450
• ISBN 13: 9780141323459
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192