For this week’s Marvelous Middle Grade Monday I’m remembering a book I read over and over as a child – The One Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith.
Now I’ve got nothing against either the Disney animated version of this story or the live action one, although the series of sequels is getting a bit tiresome. However, the re-branding of 101 Dalmatians has all but made this original source disappear and that’s a great shame. I loved this book as a kid. It’s very old fashioned I now realize, but still presents a true adventure story, a real road movie with a married couple of dogs as the heroes. CUTE!
This book would probably never be published today – it includes talking animals for one thing. The main character, although a dog, is an adult, which is very rarely seen in books for young readers. But what could be a more moving adventure than a couple of new parents going on a dangerous mission to rescue their children from death?
Here’s a quick summary:
When the Dearly’s dalmatians have their first litter of puppies-fifteen in all-everyone is delighted. But their joy is shattered when the pups are kidnapped! The humans don’t have a clue as to who the culprit is, but the trail of the fur-loving Cruella de Vil, who will stop at nothing to have a Dalmatian fur coat!
The plots of the movies generally follow the book but there is so much more in this telling. It’s much darker and quite scary. And there are so many other characters, mostly animals. There is humour, suspense, mystery and heroism. There are also some lovely emotional scenes. I used to cry when I read it!
I think it’s time this book came back into its own, without reference to the movies. It’s a wonderful book, especially for younger MG readers. Not too long, at 44347 words, it has a reading level of about grade five, so would suit confident readers 8 and up.
For this week’s I can’t wait to read I’m going with Liesl & Po by Lauren Oliver. I read a free chapter online and now I’m desperate to get my hands on this to read the whole thing. I was a bit disappointed by DELIRIUM so I’m excited that this one seems to be more my cup of tea. Time to hit the bookstore, AGAIN?
Other Marvelous Middle Grade Mondayers can be found here:
- Joanne Fritz @ My Brain on Books
- Ben Langhinrchs @ My Comfy Chair
- Sherrie Petersen @ Write About Now
- Brooke Favero @ Somewhere in the Middle
- Myrna Foster @ Night Writer
- Ally Beecher @ Kid Lit Frenzy
- Barbara Watson @ Novel and Nouveau
- Deb Marshall @ Just Deb!
- Anita Laydon Miller’s Middle Grade Blog
- Michael G-G @ Middle Grade Mafioso
- Natalie Aguirre @ Literary Rambles
- Ms. Yingling @ Ms. Yingling Reads
- Jennifer Rumberger
- Pam Torres @ So I’m Fifty
- Mary @ Writer’s Butt Does Not Apply to Me
- The Accidental Novelist
gsprendergast.com 
And of course, Dodie Smith’s book for YA, I Capture the Castle, is AMAZING, and still holds so very well with contemporary readers. One of my all-time faves!
I haven’t read “I Capture the Castle”! To the Bookmobile!
Interesting point that it may not be published in today’s climate. And I never really stopped to consider the adult perspective. I blogged today about a book with talking animal characters (and how they don’t usually strike me as my favorites), but with the right story, I do love certain ones.
Actually I think today the adult MC would be a bigger problem than the talking animals. You just almost never see that now.
I’ve never read this book! Now you’re making me want to read it. Interesting that it’s much darker when it’s not Disney-fied.
So glad to hear that someone else was a bit disappointed by DELIRIUM. But you’ll love LIESL & PO.
I found DELIRIUM very wordy and a bit pointless. “Premise in search of a plot” was how I described it.
Oh, I have such memories of 101 Dalmations.
You can add me to the camp of people who didn’t enjoy Delirium. The entire premise made no sense to me. Liesl and Po looks like fun, though.
Oh! I didn’t know it all started from a book. Now I do and I have you to thank for that 🙂