Black Dog

Product Information

This poignant story by author-illustrator Levi Pinfold won the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal and provides the perfect springboard for discussing children’s fears and how to confront them. Told as a metaphor and using repetition and rhyme, it lends itself well to the study of literary language. The visually stunning illustrations which accompany the text also help reinforce the metaphor and invite high levels of inference from the children. Strong PSHE links can be made throughout. Links and themes:

The presence of a massive dog temporarily turns this family into miniatures, of the type you’ve seen in The Borrowers and Stuart Little. But the accoutrements scattered around — the stone animals with their staring eyes, the cluttered chaos, the soap-holder that looks almost like a mechanical hand reaching into the dirty old bath, the red tricycle that will always scare anyone who ever watched Saw — there’s something definitely spooky here. (The stone animals also remind me of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.) And of course your warm house is also spooky… when you can never leave. The mother looks a lot like a Marionette as she clutches the jug in the orange image above. This particular form of spookiness was utilised by Neil Gaiman in Coraline. WEATHER SYMBOLISM With a clever story and lovely, expressive illustrations, Levi Pinfold explores the idea that fear can often lead us to do think and do foolish things. Levi won The Booktrust Early Years Award in the Best Emerging Illustrator Category for 2010 for The Django. Levi Pinfold was born in the Forest of Dean. From a young age he loved books and comics and spent many of his days drawing and writing his own stories.Pinfold’s interiors are crammed with quirky detail, and his small sepia vignettes, which cluster around the story’s text, are an elegant detail. More crucially, the story stays focused, the pacing is strong, and Small Hope is as charming as she is brave. Without a doubt, the story-line itself is perhaps the book's greatest triumph. Panic and anxiety can be so easy to spread, especially when (as it was in the Hope family) the true circumstances have been distorted. It's great for children to know that there are times when someone has to just stop the madness and see what all the fuss is about. Truth, whether harsh or forgiving, is more restful than any propaganda. It’s warm because it’s cosy, with the roaring fire and comfort of family. It’s cheery like a rainbow, in fact, with each room having its own dominant hue. This is more obvious when you view the various parts of this house together in a single image. Orange, yellow, green, pink… urn:oclc:829060333 Republisher_date 20151017020445 Republisher_operator [email protected] Scandate 20151015081253 Scanner scribe10.shenzhen.archive.org Scanningcenter shenzhen Worldcat (source edition) This book evokes one of those classical renderings of THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS- so cozy are the interiors.

When it comes to animals, some like bears, wolves, alligators, and lions frighten us. We've heard scary stories or seen horror movies about them; running through our heads are images of them eating little people up. We can even imagine the dangers of a big dog on the loose. Levi is now living in Australia and working on a new picture book for Templar slated for 2014 publication. There’s something gothic about that house. It’s a three-storied structure with an attic which would never get approved by any local council, and must have therefore come from another era. This is the trope of the Terrifying House. But this house is both terrifying and warm. There's a couple of slight downsides with the plot for me. Everyone is scared of a massive dog outside the house. The tiniest child goes out to befriend the beast. As this is a book aimed at small children I wasn't sure this was an altogether good message, there's a massive dog that everyone is scared of so you could be seen as a hero to go and make friends with it? However much you love dogs small children do need to know that you can't just go up to a dog you don't know like that. A good opportunity to discuss this maybe. Another part where the child lures the dog onto thin ice is a bit problematic too, not a good idea for little ones to walk on frozen ponds and there is some name calling about the dog being fat and having a big tum. I do get a bit tired of the clever child/ silly adult storyline, I think this is patronising to children and misleading, they do need to listen to adults sometimes, especially in dangerous situations. But those things aside this is a lovely and inventive story of a child befriending a dog. The change of size throughout the story was fun and the illustrations of the dog are very endearing. WONDERFUL children's book. This would be a joy to read aloud. The family's dialogue has a comforting feel to it, with just enough repetition so kids can get familiar or help in the storytelling. There are even a few rhymes that could be put to a tune, if you chose to do so.Overall, we thought this was a very humorous tale and we enjoyed reading it together. I liked it even more when I read it a second time the next morning. There are so many details in the pictures that I simply overlooked when I read it the first time. Such a charming little story. The CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal is awarded by children's librarians for an outstanding book in terms of illustration for children and young people. Agoraphobia isn’t contagious insofar as I know, so it would be unusual for an entire family to be simultaneously terrified of going outside. For this reason, I’m interpreting the family as ‘different aspects of the same individual’, in much the same way as the Winnie-the-Pooh characters are each different facets of a child’s single personality. Sometimes this person looks out of the window and is not quite so scared — other days the size of the menace is overwhelming. But there is one small part inside this individual which has sufficient bravery to face the world. This is the classic mouse tale trope, in which the smallest character is ironically the bravest. (And anyone who’s ever had a mouse infestation knows they’re not timid at all — mice are stupid brave for their size, relying on speed more than smarts!) This technique definitely lends the feel of ‘fable’ to this story, with thanks to Aesop and The Lion and the Mouse. Creating stories is an organic process for Levi. Sometimes he does a drawing and then the story might come afterwards which is common with people who write and illustrate. He likes to get the text finalised before he starts on illustrations. Alongside painting, Levi writes stories in his spare time. Since graduating from University in 2006, Levi has worked as a self employed illustrator. The Django, his debut picture book, is inspired by Levi's love of music.