May 2010 Guest Editor Philip Ardagh has chosen this book:
This is the simplest of everyday tales beautifully told, with well-chosen words and wonderfully straightforward - characterful - pictures. In essence, it's the story of a white dog with black spots who gets so dirty that he's mistaken for a black dog with white spots and is not recognized by the girl and boy who own him. When I stumbled upon a copy of this long-forgotten (by me) book as an adult, it turned on a light in my brain and hurtled me back to the time when I read it as a library book which I took out again and again. When I mentioned it to my (big) brother Martin, he remembered it too, with equal fondness. Interestingly, my mother had no memory of it. Rest assured, my son has a copy of this and other Harry the dog adventures. I recently read a short-story about Harry with pictures by another illustrator. It wasn't the same!
