| Little Hound Found | |
|---|---|
 | |
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Publication |
1989 |
|
Length |
Picture book |
|
Audience |
Children |
|
Illustrations |
Jo Davies |
Little Hound Found is a picture book published in 1989 by Hamish Hamilton, with illustrations by Jo Davies. It appeared in the Cartwheels line along with Sutcliff's The Roundabout Horse, and is aimed at young children.
Plot[]
Near a London park lives a family of Mummy, Daddy, their daughter Lucy and their two dogs, Bodger and Billikin. The dogs were adopted together from the Dogs' Home and believe they are brothers. Aunt Jemima decides they should have a "proper" dog and gives them a Pekinese puppy named Mandarin for Christmas. The human family members quickly accept him, but Bodger and Billikin take against him, saying he looks and smells all wrong.
On a Spring day, Mummy and Lucy take the dogs to the park. Startled by a boy with a kite, Mandarin pulls out of his collar and gets lost in the shrubbery. At closing time Mummy and Lucy have to leave the park without him, and report him missing to the police. Meanwhile Mandarin follows the crowds onto the street, and nearly runs under a taxi. A young woman takes him to the Dogs' Home, where the man in charge reports him to the police. Mandarin spends a very unhappy night in a cage until Daddy can pick him up next morning.
Bodger and Billikin find that Mandarin now smells properly, of the Dogs' Home Smell. They admit him as a brother, and Mandarin knows he is truly at home.
Chronology[]
Little Hound Found takes place in contemporary Britain. Cars and telephones appear in the text, and Jo Davies's illustrations feature 1980s styles of cars and clothing.
Timeline
- When Bodger and Billikin were very young: they were adopted from the Dogs' Home
- Just before Christmas: Aunt Jemima's visit
- Christmas: Mandarin joins the family
- Spring: Mandarin gets lost
- Next day: the family finds Mandarin
Characters[]
- Mummy
- Daddy
- Lucy, their young daughter
- Bodger, a brown mongrel
- Billikins, a black mongrel
- Aunt Jemima
- Mandarin, a Pekinese
- Pedestrian, who rescues Mandarin
- Taxi driver
- Dogs' Home man
Places[]
Little Hound Found takes place in London, England.
- A large park
- The family's nearby house
- the Dogs' Home
Background[]
"Matador Mandarin" was the name of a neighbour's Airedale, the sire of her own family dog Mike, whom Rosemary Sutcliff knew as a child in Chatham Dockyard, according to her memoir Blue Remembered Hills.
Publication history[]
- London : Hamish Hamilton, 1989. Illus. Jo Davies.