A DOG DAY

A DOG DAY

By Emily Rand
Published by Tate Publishing

A DOG DAY is Emily Rand’s first book for children and what a refreshing debut it is. The title pretty much sums up the story, its the day in a life of a dog. And our dog in this case is a big, fluffy, lovable Airedale Terrier. 

 
A DOG DAY is a rhyming book and its written in the voice of the dog, which I absolutely loved. The breed of dog is captured brilliantly, I’ve always felt sorry for Airedales as they seem quite sad all the time. This Airedale is no exception, as he starts off on a positive note; ‘We’re off on a walk, hi there, hello! The park’s my favourite place to go.’ But his owner has other ideas, as the dog has been duped into thinking that this walk was to visit the park to play ball. But as they pass the entrance the dog is pulled into a busy street ‘Looking down at me below, no one wants to say hello.’- which he finds distressing with all the busy feet going this place and that.To make matters worst his owner visits the high street shops, where the dog is left outside to suffer the cold and have a long hard wait until his owner returns. 

 

Eventually they walk towards the park again, only for his owner to meet someone he knows. The dog can’t quite understand why he isn’t being let to play with his friends as he’s been so patient and good whilst his owner drags him everywhere but the one place he wants to go! But as the day comes to a close he does get to have some fun before eventually returning home. 

Emily, who not only illustrates, is also an educator for Cubitt Education and has worked for the Serpentine Gallery. Her style is simplistic and full of character, using pen and light washes in this black and white title. The fine attention to detail on the dog’s coat and his surroundings are a nice touch to the fine line illustrations. All in all this is a simple yet lovable story. Children will adore the illustrations and the story helps them understand what a dog may feel when they’re being walked. A
DOG DAY is in all good bookshops and on the Tate website.