posted on 22 Jun 2016

The Detective Dog by Julia Donaldson and Sara Ogilvie

I am not a dog lover and so I must confess that I wasn't initially thrilled with this picture book because I assumed from the title and the picture on the cover that it was yet another book about dogs. Which of course it is, but it is about much more. This is a delightful book about Detective Dog Nell who uses her sense of smell to lead her six year old owner, Peter, his many classmates and their teacher to catch a book burglar and to then introduce him to be the delights of the local library. So it is right up my street after all and written and illustrated by two people who are passionate campaigners for books and libraries.

Julia Donaldson writes the story as a narrative poem with her usual distinctive verve and pace, a style which always lends itself to reading aloud. But it is the wonderful warm, witty detailed pictures by Sarah Ogilvie, an award winning illustrator and print maker that make this rather a beautiful book as well. 

The cover illustration hints at the scope of the adventure as we see the children running determinedly behind the dog with eyes blissfully closed as he smells something above his head and startled adults and penguins (?) look on. We learn that Peter needs Nell to help him to find things all the time as he is rather a forgetful and untidy child. He is also one of those dogs who goes with her owner into schools once a week to help children read, and yes this initiative does happen in the real world. From the outset we see a very cosy school environment where all the children are clearly given time and comfortable space to enjoy books. 

Everything changes when Peter and Nell arrive one Monday to find the children bereft because that all the books have been stolen and Nell soon finds a clue to help solve the mystery. The children follow him eagerly down the street as he isolates the smell of the printed page:

Sniff, sniff, sniff! Haddock and hay,

Pizza and penguins and further away

The smell of the thief, and -how very exciting -

Thousands of pages, all covered in writing!

On they all run past a farm, a zoo (ah so that explains the penguins on the cover) and a fast food cafe, through the fields , over a golf course and through a wood until they come across the scruffy tank topped culprit lurking guiltily reading a book with a sack full of stolen books beside him.

 

Thankfully the police are not involved and he agrees to return the books. As happens in storybook world, he is briefly embarrassed and then introduces himself as ' Ted' and seems to be forgiven as Nell leads them all away to visit the spacious town library which gives him ' the most heavenly feeling' . 

He of course joins the library and we see turn the page to see him reading happily in his own back yard. I love the large picture towards the end of the story showing Nell looking at the bookshelves in the school once again bursting with colourful choices. 

The final gorgeous double page spread shows the children making books for themselves but I particularly like the little girl on the left hand side who is hugging her book. For me - that image is as powerful as the iconic depiction of Matilda sitting on her pile of books as drawn by Roald Dahl.

 

This lovely book is a joyous celebration of the importance of books in our culture and how one group of ordinary children and a dog can work together to solve crime, show forgiveness and share their knowledge about the power of the library to someone who is clearly lonely and vulnerable. There are some dim echoes of ' The Famous Five' here but these children are much kinder and more recogisable. 

Karen Argent

22nd June 2016