Cynthia is a wild dog by Tohby Riddle

A delightfully droll tale of a dog whose inner life is in marked contrast to her real life. She runs, leaps, climbs and sleeps in the wild. She catches her own food, leaping for the butterfly, chasing a rabbit and a bird in the tree. Sometimes she runs with other wild dogs, but mostly she is a loner, an outsider. But as we turn to the last pages we find what she really is, a family dog, being scooped up for her return home after an adventure in the park.

Readers will love the humour in the story, belying the antics of Cynthia in the illustrations. Children will have realised that she is probably not a wild dog, her name and natty little coat giving the first clues, and so watch for hints of her real life. None of the animals she tries to catch seem to be in peril, and her antics with her short stumpy legs seem out of character with her size and shape. Children will laugh out loud as she scampers around the hills, able to see the gulf between reality and what she thinks.

Children will love talking about their inner lives: dreams of being a princess or superman, a ranger or an explorer. Cynthia’s dreams of herself are beautifully executed, with a dry, undercurrent of humour in both text and images. Riddle’s illustrations create a wonderful landscape for Cynthia’s inner life: mountains and hills, trees and forests, a few other animals. She bounds around the setting confidently, only to look a little embarrassed when a voice calls her back to the car. She is now called honeybun and is taken home for a good night’s sleep after her exertions.

Themes: Imagination, Dogs, Humour, Reality, Survival.

Fran Knight