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March 14th 2022
From the Tale of Peter Rabbit and Black Beauty to contemporary animal stories, animal characters have enduring popularity in children’s fiction. In contrast with adult fiction, children’s stories abound with them. So why are they so popular? Perhaps it is the way they can provide a child’s eye view, especially the feeling of being small and voiceless in an adult world. They can give agency to the child, becoming the hero of the story. They can allow children to fly with their imagination to different worlds of reality or fantasy. Ultimately, they can help us see ourselves through animals’ eyes and further our understanding and respect for animals and their environments, by allowing us to have empathy with the characters.
In A Street Dog Named Pup, I wanted to show the world through Pup’s eyes, a pup that has been abandoned in a cold and cruel city. I wanted to show how dogs might see us and in doing so, raise awareness of some of the harsh realities many dogs face; from abandonment, to dog fighting, to the growing health problems caused by the breeding of short nosed breeds for our own aesthetic tastes. Pup is befriended by a pack of street dogs, all with their own stories of how they ended up on the streets. Together, they help each other to survive.
I hope readers enjoy Pup’s story, meeting with Frenchi, Rex, Merle, Lady Fifi, Clown, Reynard and Saffy. And I hope they enjoy following Pup’s journey as he tries to find his way back to the boy that he loves, putting trust in the unique bond that can exist between dogs and humans.
A Street Dog Named Pup is out now in paperback
Follow Gill Lewis on Twitter @gill__lewis.
