Download Mister Dog: The Dog Who Belonged to Himself (A Little Golden Book) fb2

THIS IS THE GREATEST CHILDREN'S BOOK OF ALL TIME. I've given a copy of this book to every parent I know. I can't understate how awesome this book is. It makes absolutely no sense and is glorious as a result.

"Mr. Dog" (the original title of this book) is one of my favorite books of all time, read to me as a child (1950's) and read to my own children. Written by Margaret Wise Brown (who herself had a dog named Crispin's Crispian), and illustrated by the great Garth Williams, Crispin's Crispian (the dog who belonged to himself) is an independent, kindly, grown-up pooch who walks (mainly) on his hind two legs with a cane, wears an old bathrobe and slippers, eats bread and milk for breakfast and likes strawberries. He lives in a two-story dog-house surrounded by a white picket fence, dogwood trees and dog-tooth violets, with a kitchen, dining room and bedroom upstairs. (I assume he lets himself out when he "needs to see a dog about a man"). A kindly soul, he befriends and "adopts" a "boy's little boy" who (before the days of child welfare police) also belongs to himself. The boy and Crispin's Crispian bond, eat a home-cooked dinner together and fall asleep in their own little beds and "dream their own dreams." It's the story of a perfect day, innocent friendship and love at first sight.

As for the critics of this book: Give me a break! Do you live in a yurt? So what if he smokes a pipe? He doesn't wear pants, either. Furthermore, dogs eat MEAT, not tofu. Mr. Dog also likes raw eggs. And the Boy's Little Boy balanced his meal with a "bright green vegetable" and even gave some to Crispin's Crispian to put in his bone soup. I'm sure Mr. Dog's bread was whole grain and his milk was skim, and he probably purchased the strawberries he so liked from his local organic farmer's market. Moreover, he bought his bone from his local butcher (not Winn Dixie) and took it home in a brown paper bag (not plastic). If you want to cultivate good and balanced eating habits (dairy, grains, meat and leafy green vegetables), and support local growers, then I'd give this book "two paws up" for intelligent and responsible life choices.

The only draw-back to this edition is that some of Garth Williams' illustrations are missing from the original, and the book is "abridged" (the book doesn't contain the wonderful line "So they played together, and the boy threw him sticks to chase all through the shining, sun-drenched morning" or Williams' two-page illustration of this magical moment). Golden Books has done this with a number of re-issues for reasons I can't fathom.

This is a very favorite book of my youngest child. It's been read, reread, and read again. We went through a phase of reading it 2-3 times before nap and bedtime every day. One interesting thing is that I discovered an older copy and realized that this newer version is missing several pages. The older book makes a little more sense. Doesn't matter a bit to my 3 year old!

This was my favorite book as a child in the ‘50s. Bought it for my grandson. No drama here, just a comfortable portrayal of a day in the life of a dog “who belongs to himself” and wonderfully detailed illustrations by Garth Williams. Yes, it’s dated but my 2 1/2 year old grandson loves it.

I first read this (or had it read to me) at about 3 or 4 years of age. I still do not know why it made such an impression on me at that early age, but I have had it brought to mind by experiences and conversations many times in the intervening years. When I thought of it again recently, I looked on Amazon and there it was, still in print. So I ordered it. I found that it still charms me and strikes a warm resonance as I think of the dogs...and people... I have known over the past 60+ years. It's a simple book about friendship and self-reliance and I strongly recommend it to any of you with young children - and to any of you who have managed to retain a bit of your inner child through the travails of your life.

Margaret Wise Brown is one of my favorite authors for small children. My kids loved "The Little Fur Family", "Goodnight Moon", and "The Runaway Bunny". This book seems like it's targeting a slightly older age than those other books. The story is cute, although in typical Margaret Wise Brown fashion, not a lot happens. At one point in the book, Crispian is described as a 'good conservative' and I was like, "What?" I'm not sure where she was going with that. Perhaps she was worried that too many small children were being seduced by communism lol. Politics aside, the book is cute and the illustrations are adorable-

Awesome book, got this to read to our kids cause I remember it from my childhood and they enjoy it now too.

This was always my favorite children's book growing up. Our copy was old and a bit torn up so I (re-)bought this one. Very worth-while. Same old lovable book and characters but new for having the memory for longer to come. I always liked this book I think because it's more just about telling an interesting a cute story than about teaching a lesson, even though there are lessons in there. It's just really sweet so I recommend if you have really little kids. They'll love it too.